Education

FIC talks financial education at MnCUN’s 2007 Annual Meeting

The Minnesota Family Involvement Council hosted an afternoon panel discussion at the Minnesota Credit Union Network Annual Meeting on April 14, 2007. The session, entitled “Financial Education: Step 1.” The panel featured:

-Maxine Peterson, Centennial High School
-Charlie Grossklaus, Royal Credit Union, Eau Claire
-Matt Lasiuta, Anoka Hennepin Credit Union
-Tiffany Kirk, City-County Federal Credit Union

For tips and suggestions provided during the panel discussion, read on….

Maxine Peterson is a Family & Consumer Sciences (FACS) teacher at Centennial High School. She was recently named the Minnesota Associate of Family & Consumer Sciences Teacher of the Year and the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences Top Teacher in the Nation. Maxine believes in the need for financial education in schools. Matt Lasiuta is a frequent guest speaker in her class. He present on establishing credit, loans, careers, credit reports, repossessions and investments.

When choosing a guest speaker in her classroom, she looks for:

-People who use videos, visuals, and have discussions with the students, not talk down to them. Be sure to ask questions, but also leave the appropriate “wait time” when asking. Someone will speak up – give them time to think.

-People who know how to develop a rapport with kids. They must be engaged and motivated.

-People who use “real life” examples of why this information is important. Talk about your life – tell them about your career vs. what career you thought you would have when you were their age.

How credit unions should approach teachers or get involved in schools:

-The best time to contact teachers is before school or after school. Contacting them during their prep time is good as well, though it varies for every teacher and may be difficult to find out. Springtime is not preferable – fall is better. A possibility is to use the teacher workshop week before school starts for the year.

-She believes that financial education should be taught in Business classes or Family & Consumer Science (FACS) classes, not elsewhere.

-Maxine’s high school has an advisory committee – she encourages credit unions to get involved in such committees.

-Speak to school board members. Talk to them about how you are willing to help, what you can do, and why you are passionate.

-Make a presentation to the school board. Use a powerpoint. If you have teachers who agree with the need for financial education, have them attend the meeting with you to serve as “backup” – there is strength in numbers.

-Offer to pay for teachers to attend financial education training.

-Provide resources or help fund educational equipment (videos, etc.)

Tiffany Kirk is the Education Specialist at City-County Federal Credit Union, the eight largest credit union in Minnesota. A former teacher, Tiffany has “school savvy” and is experienced in marketing. She works with credit union members and members of the community, providing education to people of all ages. She works in high schools, elementary schools, community settings, and teaches member education seminars.

To get involved with particular employee or community groups, start by doing your research. Send a simple survey to gauge their needs. “If I were to come out to teach a seminar, what would you like to learn about?” In her experience, answers range from budgeting to credit to investing to spending habits.

Consider all avenues for community involvement, young kids through the elderly. At risk individuals are in need of this education too. Investigate teaching in drug rehab programs, community programs for runaway kids, etc.

“Keep it real.” Don’t tell people what not to do. Share stories and make it personal.

When presenting educational courses, do not use this as an opportunity to push your credit union’s products or services. Talk in general terms about products available at financial institutions and teach them what they can do with them.

Offer financial education seminars for free.

Use all the resources available to you. She frequently uses:
-NEFE High School Financial Planning Program http://hsfpp.nefe.org
-Family Economics & Financial Education (FEFE) curriculum provides supplemental materials, is user-friendly, has powerpoints. http://fefe.arizona.edu/
-Guides to Independence http://buy.cuna.org/static/guides_to_independence.html
-Hands-on Banking http://www.handsonbanking.org/
-HER CO-WORKERS – many credit union employees have real-life experiences that they can share.

Use prizes – kids of all ages and adults love prizes.

Matt Lasiuta is the Vice President of Branch Operations for Anoka Hennepin Credit Union. In his current role and in previous roles in the credit union movement, Matt has been very active in school classrooms, often presenting to high school students on money matters. He frequently works with Maxine Peterson at Centennial High School. Matt discussed how to use PR to your advantage and how to make your credit union’s financial education efforts a part of that strategy.

Credit unions need to be better about talking about the good that they do. PR is free – if you want it, go after it.

Use newspapers and television. Meet with members of the local media. Educate them on the credit union difference. Offer to serve as a source for them on future stories. Pitch stories to them.

Be sure to inject your credit union into all news stories you pitch – focus on the schools, but not solely. Talk about why your credit union is involved.

When pursuing media coverage for fin lit efforts, he cautioned about publicity – know the school’s policy and make sure the teacher is okay with it.

In the classroom, students love money and trinkets.

When speaking in a classroom setting, but sure that the teacher in “on board” with your subject matter. Make sure the teachers are building up to your visit and that your topic(s) fit into the current lessons. Leave time during your session to answer questions. Also, be sure to equip the teacher with knowledge in case they get questions after you’re gone.

Charlie Grossklaus is the President of Royal Credit Union, an $800 million credit union in Eau Claire, Wisc. RCU has a tremendous reputation for community involvement and is well-respected in the area of financial education. With a staff of 500 full- and part-time employees, RCU actually has a waiting list for teaching school and community seminars.

Why are credit unions motivated to do financial education?
-They have a fundamental belief in educating members
-Those members are likely to use the credit union as their primary financial institution
-Providing this knowledge helps build future leaders
-It’s a great PR tool – the community knows you and teachers know you.

RCU actually views financial education as a part of their community involvement.

IMPORTANT – before going any further, be sure you have a commitment from your board!

RCU’s goals:
-Increase the percentage of 18-34-year-old members from 34% to 41%. (The national average is 23%.)
-Increase loans by 8.7% and deposits by 9%
-Increase the total number of kids club members from 3,400 to 3,700
-Increase 13-17-year-old members from 4,200 to 4,700

HOW? It starts in the community. RCU does community ed seminars on money management, fraud prevention, credit reports, home financing and e-services. RCU has approx. 60 staff members who make presentations to adult and youth organizations (including university students at UW-Eau Claire, Girl Scouts, credit union organizations, etc.).

RCU has several in-school branches – 8 in elementary schools, 1 in a middle school, and 2 in high schools. For each of these branches, RCU has a training program, they provide the student employees with official name tags, RCU employees make classroom presentations, and they also read books in classrooms. In the high school branches, the junior and senior student employees work as weekend tellers at the credit union.

RCU also participates in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, performing free tax return preparation for low-income individual. They train college kids to do the returns.

Available resources – CUNA, NEFE, Filene and CUNA’s Seminars in a Box.

AUDIENCE Q&A

What should you do if you approach a school and they say “no?”
-Be persistent
-Ask questions – find out why
-Try other avenues (i.e. school board, advisory committees, etc., or look to community groups or alternative programs rather than schools)
-Talk to the Board of Education to get your foot in the door
-No two schools are the same – you may need to contact different people until your message resonates. Try teachers, principals, curriculum directors, or school board members.
-Be sure they know that you’re not “selling” anything or pushing products
-Show your passion.

What do teachers consider when inviting a guest speaker into their class room (especially if you’ve never met)?
-Arrange an interview / introduction session
-Teachers want speakers to be interactive – tell stories, use visuals
-Ask the teacher for suggestions – they know what works best in their classrooms
-Be sure they know that you’re not “selling” anything or pushing products
-Understand that working with schools takes practice – it will involve a bit of “trial and error” on your part

FOCUS ON YOUTH
Integrating Focus Groups in Growth Strategies

Family Involvement Council Workshop
Minnesota Credit Union Network
April 11, 2008

What we'll talk about
Focus Groups
-What are they?
-Advantages and disadvantages
-Putting it all together - Steps to success
-How do you get young people involved?
-Making the most of the opportunity
-Focus Group: IN ACTION! AKA: The FUN Part!

Focus Groups Defined:
"(A research method involving) … people who possess certain characteristics and provide qualitative data in a focused discussion to help understand the topic of interest."
Krueger & Casey, 2000

Focus Groups Defined:
"Basically, focus groups are interviews, but of (several) people at the same time in the same group. …a powerful means to evaluate services or test new ideas."
McNamara, Authenticity Consulting, 2006

Focus Groups as a Research Tool:
ADVANTAGES
-Affordable
-Help evaluate products and services
-Generate wide range of feelings and opinions
-Provide dynamic member input
-Learn new trends, likes and dislikes (TEENS!)
-Foundation for further, quantitative research (surveys, measurements of member satisfaction)
-FUN!

DISADVANTAGES
-Ineffective when dealing with sensitive information when confidentiality is vital
-Dominant personalities sometimes take over discussion
-No hard numbers delivered (quantitative)
-Example: "…72 percent of teen CU members …"
-Need a good facilitator

Kinsey, Syracuse University, 2006

Steps to Success:
1.Preparing for the session
2.Developing questions for the group
3.Planning the session
4.Facilitating the session
5.Delivering the results

Preparing for the session:
1.Identify major objective ("How do we increase youth membership at our CU")
2.Develop 5 - 10 questions
3.Plan for 90 minute session
4.Determine members of the focus group
5.What's the incentive?

Developing questions:
1.Open ended questions … not "Yes" or "No"
2.Develop 5 - 10 strategic questions
3.Ask yourself: "Will this help our credit union…really?"
4.Always remember your objective: Youth membership.

Planning the session:
1.90 minutes
2.Setting: Off-site or at your credit union?
3.Ground rules
4.Agenda
5.Participants - 6 to 10 ideal
6.FOOD
7.REFRESHMENTS
8.FOOD!!

Facilitating the session:
1.Staff member or independent facilitator? Budget question!
2.Permission if minors (release form)
3.Record the session (tape recorder)
4.Repeat "what you heard"
5.Ensure even participation - no dominators
             -Roundtable approach
             -Problem solve

Delivering the results:
1.Transcribe tape (if used)
2.Transcribe flip chart notes
3.Write down observations of session
           -Did everyone participate
           -Were voices heard
           -Was the setting right?
           -Any surprises?
If facilitator is used, expect a full report of session, along with suggested action steps, within 10 business days.
GOAL: Actionable items

How do you get youth involved?
Incentives:
1.MONEY
2.Gift cards (I-Tunes, Best Buy)
3.Tickets to concerts
4.Tickets to sports events
5.Food
6.MONEY
Needs to be something of value

How do you get youth involved?
1.Peer pressure
Find a "youth CU champion"
2. Parent outreach program
3. Schools - Junior Achievement, DECA, student councils
4. Scholarship program requirement
            *Essay + focus group involvement

How do you get youth involved?
Marketing ideas:
-Social media
-Youth blogs
-Targeted, personalized mailing
-E-based, customized
-Interactive Web site use
-ASK!
-Personal approach + incentive = they'll be there!

Making the most of the input:
-Relate responses back to objective
-Engage staff in strategic brainstorming sessions to respond to youth input
             -How can you address a trend?
             -What ways can we communicate to youth better?
             -Are we providing the products and services that make sense?
             -Matrix approach - makes the input strategic
             -Is an insight actionable? Maybe not.

Rick Foy
Sight Creative
651.497.8530
rickf@sightcreative.com
www.sightcreative.com