BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — City-County Federal Credit Union Education Specialist Tiffany Kirk is helping the credit union deliver what members want most–more financial education.
"The position was created from community feedback," said Kirk. "Prior to that we had a traditional business development program where we'd talk about the credit union and open new accounts. But what the groups and organizations were telling us is that more than education about our products, they wanted to have a more in-depth knowledge of how it all works."
Kirk, who has a marketing degree and worked as classroom teacher at St. Paul Public School, had never heard of a credit union before she applied for the job.
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"With budget cuts impacting several schools in my district, I just wanted to do something different, and I had this marketing degree that I never used and thought this opportunity offered the best of both worlds," said Kirk.
It took five months for Kirk to develop a financial education curriculum for ages pre-K through adult. And what started out as four lessons has grown to over 35 lesson plans.
"I think it covers all the bases in terms of age-group appropriateness, and we dedicate one hour to each lesson," said Kirk. "It's simple, provides all you need to know about each topic, while still being fun. For example, the pre-K topics focus on money uses–the spend, share, save concept. From there it can go up to investment options for teens and adults."
The lessons include a mix of interactive games, question and answer opportunities and lectures. Kirk views it as more of an hour workshop than seminar because audience participation is key.
"The difference between this and the [National Endowment for Financial Education] program is that NEFE is more geared for teachers and is meant to be taught over a long period of time, and it will take a total semester to get through the material," said Kirk. "We have such a range of age groups that we let them pick and choose what is relevant to meet their needs without it being very time intensive."
To help spread the word about the program Kirk invested in face time with various community organizations and schools and registered with a speakers' bureau.
"It's been about a year for this to take off and lots of outreach to get to a point where, through word of mouth about the classes, I was getting calls and e-mails for requests every day," said Kirk. "It's grown so much that there are now two other staffers trained to teach lessons as well."
Kirk said the community feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and she has received multiple return requests. She added that on a weekly basis people sign up for five to six classes. Despite the initial success and community buzz, she said the program continues to be a work in progress.
"We're always looking at how we can improve, what topics should we add to the lesson plans and how can we keep it fresh and fun," said Kirk. "This is a great start but we have a lot more to do because financial literacy is so important. Our program is not the answer to the financial literacy crisis; it's just one example of what credit unions can do to help make a difference in members' lives and their community."
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