Submitted by jetrump on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 19:33.
Last updated on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 10:23.
In low-income communities the immediacy of day to day needs often overshadows thoughts of planning ahead and saving for the future. This project addresses the importance of teaching middle and high school students in Apopka, Florida how to manage money and save for their futures. About one third of Apopka High students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches and one quarter are non-native speakers of English. Many students are unfamiliar with financial institutions and the concept of saving money. I want to help Apopka students become financially literate through a fun, hands-on project. As a 23-year-old Americorps volunteer in Apopka working with the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, I feel like I am in a unique position to address the issue of youth financial literacy in Apopka.
The Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program addresses the problem of youth financial literacy through a fun, hands-on, after school program in which students organize and manage a youth owned and operated credit union. The first element of the program is teaching students practical financial skills from first-hand experiences. As tellers, publicists, and members of the Board of Directors, students learn the basics of running a business and all the financial know-how that goes with it. The second element of the program is helping students understand how credit unions function as community-based, cooperative, democratic financial institutions, and how this can be a powerful tool for sustaining the financial well-being of a community. The final element of the program is student to student outreach. Once the participants in the program have developed a solid base of financial knowledge, they will help educate their peers through recruitment, a student designed website, informational brochures, financial literacy seminars, and any other ideas the students may have.
There is great potential in the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, and I am excited about working toward realizing this potential. While PFP was founded in 1996, it has been practically dormant for several years due the lack of a program director. As the first PFP director in about 5 years, my goal is to revive the program, get students involved in the management and day-to-day operations of the credit union, and open a functional teller window transaction site on the Apopka High campus and eventually the middle school campus as well. After researching age-appropriate financial literacy curricula and making recruitment presentations at Apopka High School, I have gathered a group of about 15 diverse and enthusiastic students who are going to lead the way in establishing this enterprise. This is my first time working with such a diverse group of students, and it has provided some unexpected challenges with group cohesion. However I am continuously trying new strategies to assure that everyone in the group feels welcome and valued.
If anyone knows of, or has experience working with, a similar program, we would love and information or advise you may have.
05/8/09
Jenny Trump
Number of people in the organization: 11
Number of people impacted: 30
Describe the impact the grant had: Winning a Do Something grant affected our project in several ways. First, when I told the group we had won the grant, it was a huge spirit boost for them. We knew now that we had some capability to put our ideas into action and do something a little more professional. It made the group feel like they were something important. Second, it helped us avoid having to do a fundraiser as one of our first activities so we could stay focused on getting the credit union set up. Since we were a new club, if we had had to do a fundraiser before we opened, we wouldn’t have had much to tell people about what we were raising money for. We were more of an idea than an actual project at that point in time. The Do Something grant allowed us to get set up and get our feet on the ground without having to do a fundraiser first. Finally, the Do Something grant helped us make our credit union a reality. Even though we were fortunate enough to have a computer and printer donated, we would never have been able to install the credit union software without the grant money. Our office would have been bare, and we would not have been able to professionalize our operation as much. Plus it was nice to be able to provide snacks at the meetings and have some money to cover necessary transportation expenses. The Do Something grant was a big help in turning our idea for a student credit union into a real functioning financial institution.
Project highlights: 1. In mid-November, after the group had been meeting every Tuesday after school for about a month, some of my students suggested on their own initiative that we start to meet twice a week instead of just once. We had just decided to try to create a small school spirit store in addition to a credit union and I think my students began to see that this was a huge project they had bitten off. However instead of being daunted, they stepped up to the task and decided to increase their efforts. There was broad support among the group to meet twice a week and their enthusiasm has endured. We have met every Tuesday and Wednesday after school since mid-November.
2. Everyone had a good time when we made our first commercial in early February. The group has some very camera friendly students and some very camera shy students, but by the end of the commercial everyone was getting into it, and one of the shyer girls took a speaking part. Before the commercial aired on the school news, Chase (the student involved in the TV productions class) brought us the edited version of the commercial. We watched it, and we all laughed. I think the two times my group laughed hardest together were when we watched our own commercials. Everyone was nervous before the commercial aired on the school news station, Darter News Network, but when it did it was very well received. For the next several weeks, when we asked new members where they had heard about Darter Dollar$, about half of them replied the commercial.
3. I am an Americorps volunteer and my work site is based out of a non-profit organization called the Hope CommUnity Center (HCC.) Two weeks ago, the HCC had a donor recognition evening where local donors came to the center and got to see what projects the center ran. The credit union club had a table and my students made a display of our work, and five students from the club manned the table for the evening. When adults came up to the table with questions, my students responded intelligently and articulately with maturity and confidence. At the end of the evening, my supervisors all told me that everyone had been very impressed with the “credit union kids.” One if my supervisors said that if someone had told her last October that those students would be such good spokes-people for the credit union in April, she wouldn’t have believed it, but they pulled it off. I was very proud of my students, and they were proud of themselves as well.
How did the project unfold and develop? When I convened the first meeting for the youth credit union project I wanted to start at Apopka High School last October, an eclectic group of 17 students, most of whom didn’t know each other, attended. Most of them had heard about my initiative to start the project from a series of classroom presentations I had done the week prior. I had targeted business and economic classes but, being new in town myself, I also presented in any class where a teacher would give me some time to talk. This means I made several presentations in global studies classes and English as a second language classes as well.
Apopka High is home to a very diverse student body which is about one third white, one third African American, and one third Hispanic, and most of the Hispanic students speak English as a second language. Of the 17 students from my first meeting, eight stuck with the project through the entire year and became the core of what became known as the Darter Dollar$ Student Credit Union Club. These eight recruited several other participants throughout the year, some of whom also stuck with it, so today the group is a still quite eclectic, close-knit team of students, from freshmen to seniors, that run the gamit of Apopka’s racial, cultural, lingual, and socio-economic backgrounds. As the project unfolded and developed, the group worked hard to organize, operate, and market a student credit union that was a practical and functional financial institution for their peers. As they worked together throughout the year, they pulled together as a true team to create something bigger than the sum of their individual parts and make a lasting impact at their school.
Our project began in the planning and educating stages. Last October, most of my students didn’t know what a credit union was. Seeing as we were going to be a credit union, we began by answering that question. From there, we discussed savings accounts, bank statements and how to read them, policies regarding savings accounts, we drafted a set of policies for our own credit union, and we gave ourselves a name: Darter Dollar$. Also at the beginning, my students had the idea to run a small school spirit store alongside the credit union. I resisted at first because I didn’t want us to get sidetracked from the credit union project. But after talking with some coworkers, I decided to let them give their idea a go. This project was not just about finance and saving, but also about entrepreneurship, and my students were ready to be entrepreneurs. We designed a t-shirt and bought a few other promotional items to sell at our co-enterprise Darter $pirit. We started meeting on Tuesdays after school, but as my students began to get into the project and realize how much work was needed, they suggested themselves that they begin meeting on Wednesdays as well.
We talked with the school administration about a location for our credit union, and they told us we could work out of the currently unused third lunchroom vending window. We transformed this stuffy, cramped, and poorly-lit sliver of space into our office and began to fill it with office supplies and made it our home. We got really lucky when someone donated a used laptop for our use with the credit union project. With help from our partner credit union (Community Trust FCU in Apopka) and the Youth2Youth grant money we installed their official credit union software and were able to operate an official credit union workstation right at Apopka High. I trained several students on the software so they could be proficient tellers. These preparations took us most of first semester, but about half way though fall semester, we decided our goal was to open for operation the first week of the second semester.
We worked hard to meet out goal of opening the first week of the second semester, and when it came time, we were ready. We decided we would operate once a week on Tuesdays during lunch, so on Tuesday, Jan 21, 2009 we officially opened for our first day of business. Opening created its own challenges. By trial and error we developed an efficient system of division of labor among the student operators. We organized a record keeping system for our members and our store sales. We decided it was too small at our window to do registrations and transactions as well as display our store merchandise all at the same time so we got a card table and set up a registration table just outside our window (see picture.) With one or two students outside at the registration table and another one or two behind the scenes in our office as teller, receipt writer (we only recently got a printer) and/or record organizer, we developed an efficient operation. The only problem was that no one knew what we were!
This problem kicked off the marketing phase of our project. Apopka High is a big school with about 700 students per class, and trying to help this many students understand what a student credit union does is not an easy task. But my students weren’t daunted. At our after school meetings, we began by making informational flyers and hanging them all over the school. One student in the group is in the schools TV productions class he headed the effort to make a commercial for the credit union. This became the first of two commercials my students made, and these commercials turned out to be some of our best marketing tools. We passed out flyers at lunch, and we talked with people as they walked by our registration table, and after our first commercial aired, we began to get a slow but steady trickle of business every Tuesday. But we needed to do more. We decided to prepare some presentations and talk to different classes about our project. Between mid-March and mid-April, representatives from the credit union club presented in more than 20 classes to spread the word about the credit union. Some were more natural public speakers than others, but they all presented and they all improved over time.
This effort along with our second commercial brought a small wave of new members. Although I would never describe business as booming at our window, we consistently have 8-12 depositors who deposit a combined total of $60-100 every week. Since Jan. 21st, 30 students have opened accounts and almost all of them have made more than one deposit. They rarely make withdrawals, and they use their account for building savings. Furthermore, for most of our members, this is the first savings account they’ve ever had. Many students have already saved $50 or more with a handful saving more than $100 since January. Additionally, now you can ask almost any student at Apopka High if they’ve heard of Darter Dollar$, and most of them will tell you, “That’s the bank, right?” Maybe next year my students can get them to respond “That’s the credit union, right?” but for now, I think “the bank” is pretty good!
I think my students have impacted their community in two senses. First, they made an impact on their peers through the credit union project as I described above. Second, I think they impacted their group itself and its sense of being a team. Every minute of this project has not always been exciting, nor has it been easy. But the camaraderie and the desire to keep this project going next year that has developed among the group is stronger than I ever would have predicted. This eclectic group of students who, before October, didn’t even know each other and probably would not have socialized much together outside this project, have become close and have developed a common goal. As an Americorps volunteer, my year of service will end this July, and I will be starting a Ph. D. program in applied economics in Ohio next year. Even though we have not found another Americorps volunteer to take my place yet, my students have decided they want to keep the club going next year showing an impressive force of independent momentum. So even without knowing who might take me place next year, I know that even though I will miss these students very much next year, the future of the Darter Dollar$ Student Credit Union is in very good hands.
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In low-income communities the immediacy of day to day needs often overshadows thoughts of planning ahead and saving for the future. This project addresses the importance of teaching middle and high school students in Apopka, Florida how to manage money and save for their futures. About one third of Apopka High students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches and one quarter are non-native speakers of English. Many students are unfamiliar with financial institutions and the concept of saving money. I want to help Apopka students become financially literate through a fun, hands-on project. As a 23-year-old Americorps volunteer in Apopka working with the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, I feel like I am in a unique position to address the issue of youth financial literacy in Apopka.
Why is it important to you?:
The Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program addresses the problem of youth financial literacy through a fun, hands-on, after school program in which students organize and manage a youth owned and operated credit union. The first element of the program is teaching students practical financial skills from first-hand experiences. As tellers, publicists, and members of the Board of Directors, students learn the basics of running a business and all the financial know-how that goes with it. The second element of the program is helping students understand how credit unions function as community-based, cooperative, democratic financial institutions, and how this can be a powerful tool for sustaining the financial well-being of a community. The final element of the program is student to student outreach. Once the participants in the program have developed a solid base of financial knowledge, they will help educate their peers through recruitment, a student designed website, informational brochures, financial literacy seminars, and any other ideas the students may have.
What's your plan of action?:
There is great potential in the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, and I am excited about working toward realizing this potential. While PFP was founded in 1996, it has been practically dormant for several years due the lack of a program director. As the first PFP director in about 5 years, my goal is to revive the program, get students involved in the management and day-to-day operations of the credit union, and open a functional teller window transaction site on the Apopka High campus and eventually the middle school campus as well. After researching age-appropriate financial literacy curricula and making recruitment presentations at Apopka High School, I have gathered a group of about 15 diverse and enthusiastic students who are going to lead the way in establishing this enterprise. This is my first time working with such a diverse group of students, and it has provided some unexpected challenges with group cohesion. However I am continuously trying new strategies to assure that everyone in the group feels welcome and valued.
How Can Others Help?:
If anyone knows of, or has experience working with, a similar program, we would love and information or advise you may have.
Total hours volunteered (to date):
If anyone knows of, or has experience working with, a similar program, we would love and information or advise you may have.
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In low-income communities the immediacy of day to day needs often overshadows thoughts of planning ahead and saving for the future. This project addresses the importance of teaching middle and high school students in Apopka, Florida how to manage money and save for their futures. About one third of Apopka High students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches and one quarter are non-native speakers of English. Many students are unfamiliar with financial institutions and the concept of saving money. I want to help Apopka students become financially literate through a fun, hands-on project. As a 23-year-old Americorps volunteer in Apopka working with the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, I feel like I am in a unique position to address the issue of youth financial literacy in Apopka.
Why is it important to you?:
The Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program addresses the problem of youth financial literacy through a fun, hands-on, after school program in which students organize and manage a youth owned and operated credit union. The first element of the program is teaching students practical financial skills from first-hand experiences. As tellers, publicists, and members of the Board of Directors, students learn the basics of running a business and all the financial know-how that goes with it. The second element of the program is helping students understand how credit unions function as community-based, cooperative, democratic financial institutions, and how this can be a powerful tool for sustaining the financial well-being of a community. The final element of the program is student to student outreach. Once the participants in the program have developed a solid base of financial knowledge, they will help educate their peers through recruitment, a student designed website, informational brochures, financial literacy seminars, and any other ideas the students may have.
What's your plan of action?:
There is great potential in the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, and I am excited about working toward realizing this potential. While PFP was founded in 1996, it has been practically dormant for several years due the lack of a program director. As the first PFP director in about 5 years, my goal is to revive the program, get students involved in the management and day-to-day operations of the credit union, and open a functional teller window transaction site on the Apopka High campus and eventually the middle school campus as well. After researching age-appropriate financial literacy curricula and making recruitment presentations at Apopka High School, I have gathered a group of about 15 diverse and enthusiastic students who are going to lead the way in establishing this enterprise. This is my first time working with such a diverse group of students, and it has provided some unexpected challenges with group cohesion. However I am continuously trying new strategies to assure that everyone in the group feels welcome and valued.
How Can Others Help?:
If anyone knows of, or has experience working with, a similar program, we would love and information or advise you may have.
What's the problem you are trying to solve?:
In low-income communities the immediacy of day to day needs often overshadows thoughts of planning ahead and saving for the future. This project addresses the importance of teaching middle and high school students in Apopka, Florida how to manage money and save for their futures. About one third of Apopka High students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches and one quarter are non-native speakers of English. Many students are unfamiliar with financial institutions and the concept of saving money. I want to help Apopka students become financially literate through a fun, hands-on project. As a 23-year-old Americorps volunteer in Apopka working with the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, I feel like I am in a unique position to address the issue of youth financial literacy in Apopka.
Why is it important to you?:
The Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program addresses the problem of youth financial literacy through a fun, hands-on, after school program in which students organize and manage a youth owned and operated credit union. The first element of the program is teaching students practical financial skills from first-hand experiences. As tellers, publicists, and members of the Board of Directors, students learn the basics of running a business and all the financial know-how that goes with it. The second element of the program is helping students understand how credit unions function as community-based, cooperative, democratic financial institutions, and how this can be a powerful tool for sustaining the financial well-being of a community. The final element of the program is student to student outreach. Once the participants in the program have developed a solid base of financial knowledge, they will help educate their peers through recruitment, a student designed website, informational brochures, financial literacy seminars, and any other ideas the students may have.
What's your plan of action?:
There is great potential in the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, and I am excited about working toward realizing this potential. While PFP was founded in 1996, it has been practically dormant for several years due the lack of a program director. As the first PFP director in about 5 years, my goal is to revive the program, get students involved in the management and day-to-day operations of the credit union, and open a functional teller window transaction site on the Apopka High campus and eventually the middle school campus as well. After researching age-appropriate financial literacy curricula and making recruitment presentations at Apopka High School, I have gathered a group of about 15 diverse and enthusiastic students who are going to lead the way in establishing this enterprise. This is my first time working with such a diverse group of students, and it has provided some unexpected challenges with group cohesion. However I am continuously trying new strategies to assure that everyone in the group feels welcome and valued.
How Can Others Help?:
If anyone knows of, or has experience working with, a similar program, we would love and information or advise you may have.
Total hours volunteered (to date):
Total hours volunteered (to date):
Current age (NOTE: this section is for people 25 and younger):
How many people are directly involved in your project? :
How many people has your project helped? :
Location(s)
See map: Google MapsWhat's the problem you are trying to solve?:
In low-income communities the immediacy of day to day needs often overshadows thoughts of planning ahead and saving for the future. This project addresses the importance of teaching middle and high school students in Apopka, Florida how to manage money and save for their futures. About one third of Apopka High students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches and one quarter are non-native speakers of English. Many students are unfamiliar with financial institutions and the concept of saving money. I want to help Apopka students become financially literate through a fun, hands-on project. As a 23-year-old Americorps volunteer in Apopka working with the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, I feel like I am in a unique position to address the issue of youth financial literacy in Apopka.
Why is it important to you?:
The Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program addresses the problem of youth financial literacy through a fun, hands-on, after school program in which students organize and manage a youth owned and operated credit union. The first element of the program is teaching students practical financial skills from first-hand experiences. As tellers, publicists, and members of the Board of Directors, students learn the basics of running a business and all the financial know-how that goes with it. The second element of the program is helping students understand how credit unions function as community-based, cooperative, democratic financial institutions, and how this can be a powerful tool for sustaining the financial well-being of a community. The final element of the program is student to student outreach. Once the participants in the program have developed a solid base of financial knowledge, they will help educate their peers through recruitment, a student designed website, informational brochures, financial literacy seminars, and any other ideas the students may have.
What's your plan of action?:
There is great potential in the Pennies for Power Youth Credit Union Program, and I am excited about working toward realizing this potential. While PFP was founded in 1996, it has been practically dormant for several years due the lack of a program director. As the first PFP director in about 5 years, my goal is to revive the program, get students involved in the management and day-to-day operations of the credit union, and open a functional teller window transaction site on the Apopka High campus and eventually the middle school campus as well. After researching age-appropriate financial literacy curricula and making recruitment presentations at Apopka High School, I have gathered a group of about 15 diverse and enthusiastic students who are going to lead the way in establishing this enterprise. This is my first time working with such a diverse group of students, and it has provided some unexpected challenges with group cohesion. However I am continuously trying new strategies to assure that everyone in the group feels welcome and valued.
How Can Others Help?:
If anyone knows of, or has experience working with, a similar program, we would love and information or advise you may have.
Total hours volunteered (to date):
Get some cash to get your project to the next level. Weekly grants are available.
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I am the CEO & Founder of The National Association of Youth-Owned Businesses. I would love to work with your credit Union I was think of starting one my self.
*****************End of Message*******************
Commissioner Connell Wise
Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer
The National Association of Youth-Owned Businesses
The Voice of Young Business Owners
P.O. Box 76775
Washi
The National Association of Youth-Owned Businesses
The Voice of Young Business Owners
ceo@nayob.org
WWW.nayob.Org
this is really awesome! maybe the smalll business administration would be into it?
I would like to extend a free one year membership to nayob. For your credit Union.
just shot me an email.
*****************End of Message*******************
Connell Wise
Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer
The National Association of Youth-Owned Businesses
The Voice of Young Business Owners
700 12 Street NW., Suite 700
Washinngton
Thank you for your interest in my student credit union project! I am intrigued by your idea that we could get some help/support from the Small Business Administration, but I'm not really sure what kind of help/support to look for. Could you explain a little more what you are thinking when you say maybe the SBA would "be into it?" Thank you very much for your time!
Jenny
When you show kids how to manage money at a young age. It is definitely a plus. Kids will definitely take care of their money as an adult.
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