1st Financial FCU Donates $10,000 to Youth Jobs Program

St. Louis, MO - On Friday, May 23rd, representatives from 1st Financial Federal Credit Union continued their partnership with STL Youth Jobs by participating in a Job Fair and presenting a $10,000 grant to help the program hire a Financial Empowerment Specialist. The Financial Empowerment Specialist will work with STL Youth Jobs participants during the summer to develop savings habits and help the youth work towards achieving their financial dreams.

"On behalf of everyone at 1st Financial Credit Union, we are proud to be a part of STL Youth Jobs, and we are happy to lend our expertise to the programs success, said Carol Minges, Chief Executive Officer at 1st Financial Federal Credit Union. "1st Financial actively promotes financial empowerment. We want to see the youth we serve build healthy financial habits that will help them for the rest of their lives."

She continued, saying "Helping our St. Louis young adults save their hard-earned money and to fully fund their goals are at the very core of our existence as a credit union. STL Youth Jobs is an outstanding program that will help us reach out to and engage the next generation."

STL Youth Jobs was created to train St. Louis youth to be ready for the future workforce by providing financial literacy programs, job readiness training, and individualized career assessment. Formed in 2012 by a group of St. Louisans including the City of St. Louis Mayors office, the Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, MERS Goodwill, the Incarnate Word Foundation, and the St. Louis Youth Violence Prevention Taskforce, STL Youth Jobs provides employment opportunities for young people aged 16-24 while working to ensure future economic growth for the region.

Since 2014, 1st Financial has partnered with St. Louis Youth Employment Programs to offer financial literacy education and open 196 savings and checking accounts for program participants. These accounts have special limits built into them so that the youth do not experience fees when using their debit card. Additionally, these accounts are set up with automatic paycheck withdrawals which are transferred into a primary savings account to help form positive savings habits.

With an average savings allocation of $48 per paycheck and total savings of about $2,000 bi-weekly, these young adults were able to save a total of $24,000 over the course of the 2014 program. Since the start of 2015, 1st Financial has opened approximately 500 new accounts for youth, and estimates that this total will reach 2,500 by the end of the year.

For more information about 1st Financial Federal Credit Union and the credit union difference, please visit www.1stfinancialfcu.org

About 1st Financial Federal Credit Union

Like many credit unions, 1st Financial is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative committed to providing quality services to the membership while demonstrating safe and sound business practices. 1st Financial Federal Credit Union was chartered on September 3, 1968 as District 837 Credit Union by the International Association of Machinist members employed by McDonnell Douglas. For over 45 years, 1st Financial has provided members with a full line of dependable financial products and services which returns profits to the members in the form of reasonable rates on loans and higher savings yields.

Today, with over 30,000 members and nearly $200 million in assets, 1st Financial is able to serve anyone who lives, works (regularly does business in*), worships or attends school in the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County or St. Charles County. Deposits are federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), an agency of the U.S. Government.

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