California and Nevada Leagues Partner with USA Today to Offer Financial Literacy Education to Area Schools

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - The California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues are partnering with USA Today to offer a customized financial literacy curriculum, created and co-branded by the Leagues and the paper's education department. Lesson plans will be delivered to 250 teachers at 50 high schools selected by the Leagues throughout California and Nevada. Priority will be given to schools with on-campus credit union branches and those whose teachers are served by educational credit unions. Schools will each receive 20 custom-labeled newspapers daily for 32 weeks, starting this fall. Lesson plans will introduce young adults to the basics of credit, the importance of saving money, budgeting, and strengthening students' overall financial literacy skills. They will be available for classroom use and online through a newly created micro-site Web site as well as the USA Today Education Web site at www.education.usatoday.com. The news-based plan, Experience USA Today, is written to relate to the day's news. USA Today will provide three-hour training sessions to the teachers involved in the program. The League will host a training session in October for San Bernardino County teachers. It is looking to use California and Nevada credit unions as sites for the other teacher training sessions. "The California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues believe in the importance of educating young people about responsible personal finance," said Matthew Davidson, executive vice president of the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues. "The USA Today program will help meet the community's needs to teach students financial literacy based on everyday, real-life examples. It is a program we are pleased to support and sponsor." "We value our association with the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues and look forward to working with them in developing an effective and mutually beneficial project for the Leagues, USA Today, students, parents, and teachers," said Lupe Jaramillo, national education manager for the newspaper.