Cornerstone honors three CUs for outstanding adult financial education programs

Editor’s note: This is the first article in a four-part series featuring the credit union initiatives selected by the Cornerstone League for the Credit Union National Association’s national awards.

Cornerstone selected Tinker Federal Credit Union and Education Credit Union as the first-place winners of CUNA’s Desjardins Adult Financial Education Award, while GECU took second place. This award recognizes leadership with the credit union on behalf of financial literacy. Following are descriptions of their outstanding financial education programs.

Tinker Federal Credit Union

Oklahoma City, Okla. More than $1 billion in assets

Giovanni Monterroso, TFCU financial educator, teaches on-site at the Department of Housing for the Muscogee Creek Nation in Okmulgee, Okla.

Department of Housing—Muscogee Creek Nation—TFCU Financial Education Workshops
Tinker Federal Credit Union (TFCU) partnered with the Muscogee Creek Nation (MCN) Department of Housing, a self-governed Native American tribe located in Oklahoma, to provide financial resources. The MCN tribal members face challenges obtaining financial resources and education in rural areas. There is also an issue of many of their citizens being unbanked or underbanked.

The TFCU partnership helped bridge that gap by providing in-person, easy-to-understand financial education classes at the tribal members’ location, helping them understand how to apply and open an account and providing individual attention. During July, September, and November, TFCU staff provided 15 financial education classes, reaching 93 individuals, and helping 10 tribal members open accounts with TFCU.

Education Credit Union

Amarillo, Texas $250 million–$1 billion assets

Pictured is an ad promoting Education Credit Union’s Emergency Savings Account Challenge.

ECU’s Smart Money Financial Education
Education Credit Union (ECU) provides adult financial education to diverse audiences. Credit union staff teaches the public, members, the less advantaged, teachers, college students, and students aging out of youth facilities. Classes are conducted via ECU’s website, Facebook page, and email.

Following are a few examples of ECU’s Smart Money Financial Education program:

• Online courses and blogs: Forty-one courses are now available to anyone who accesses My Smart Money Lab on the credit union’s website. Additionally, the credit union posts two financial education blogs each month on its website and Facebook page.
• Emergency Savings contest: Members were encouraged to open emergency savings accounts and challenged to maintain an average daily balance of $250 during the first quarter, $500 the second quarter, and $750 in the third quarter. Sixty-one percent of members who began the contest ended the contest with at least $1,000 in their savings accounts.
• Heal the City: ECU partnered with Heal the City, a nonprofit organization that provides healthcare to individuals without insurance coverage. To receive medical services, patients must attend wellness classes, including financial wellness education provided by ECU. Four times a year, the credit union’s financial educators teach financial wellness sessions, explaining the basics patients need for financial survival.
• Buff$mart Money Management Boot Camp: The credit union helped West Texas A&M launch this program, where students attend classes—one-third of which ECU staff teaches—complete course requirements and participate in one-on-one coaching sessions. In 2019, 321 students completed the boot camp. Education CU donated $50,000 to the university to renovate a dedicated space for adult financial education. The program will now be called The Education Credit Union Buff$mart program.
  

GECU

El Paso, Texas More than $1 billion in assets

Pictured is an example of the marketing materials used to promote GECU’s ImagineU online video platform.

GECU Financial Education 2019

GECU provides the El Paso, Texas, community with free financial education, addressing a variety of financial topics through different formats. Topics include basic budgeting skills, saving for higher education, homeownership, investment basics, and estate planning. Located in a border town, GECU offers many of its seminars in Spanish to benefit everyone in its community.

GECU staff provided in-person community financial literacy to more than 34,950 individuals. Through the credit union’s initiatives:

• 428 individuals were certified through the Financial Education and Homeownership program.
• 832 individuals benefited from one-on-one counseling, addressing their specific needs.
• 425 individuals planned their futures through GECU Investment and Trust Services estate planning seminars.
• 1,855 adults and 448 students benefited from financial education through the ImagineU GECU online video platform.