Teachers FCU Teaches Kids About Finance

For the second year in a row, Teachers Federal Credit Union is hosting a high-school intern at its Commack branch, teaching that person all about the inner workings of a credit union and jobs in the banking industry.

The Farmingville-based institution also visited Commack High School last year to educate students about basic banking, using credit cards and avoiding identity theft.

For these and its other workings with education systems across Long Island, Teachers was recently crowned first in the $250 million asset category for leadership in youth financial literacy by the Credit Union Association of New York.

The local credit union was given the 2010 Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award, named for Alphonse Desjardins, who founded the first credit union in the United States in 1909.

Diane LaVigna-Wixted, executive director of the New York Credit Union Foundation, the arm of the state association that handles the award, said Teachers topped its asset category because it exceeded in the five judging criteria: awareness and teacher training, collaboration, youth instruction, in-school branches and legislative and regulatory advocacy.

"They also really help us because they're a great local representative of the National Endowment for Financial Education," Lavigna-Wixted added. NEFE is a national nonprofit that promotes financial literacy.

Rosemary Nicholls, Teacher's senior vice president of research, development and marketing, said the credit union focuses on teaching young people about finances to support its roots in the education industry. Teachers started as an institution for students and workers in the school systems on Long Island, but has since expanded to a community charter, meaning anyone who lives or works on the Island can join.

"We still feel that it's our responsibility to provide financial education to all levels of the community," Nicholls said, adding the credit union started its financial education work about 10 years ago.

The credit union works with about 25 schools across the Island, most in Suffolk County, teaching children and teenagers the basics of banking and finance. Nicholls said Teachers most often works with Suffolk County high schools, but has been recruited on occasion to visit middle schools as well.

Teachers' employees visit each school once or multiple times throughout the year, hosting a presentation that covers various banking topics including savings accounts, checking accounts, credit, careers in banking, the credit union alternative and identity theft.

The institution also hosts seminars for teachers, offers online financial education and occasionally works with college freshmen.

When school's not in session, Teachers works with local libraries, putting on presentations about finance, like "Money and Me," a class about cash for pre-teens.

"We're continuing to grow based on the individual requests from schools," Nicholls said, adding the program is now expanding further into Nassau County.

Along with the presentations at the high school in Commack, Teachers participates in the local school's career fair each year, and is involved in its advisory board.

Teachers is now entered in a competition for the national Desjardins prize and will compete against the other state winners from across the country. That award will be presented to the winning credit union in February.