A television series aimed at children and sponsored by credit unions has won next year's Herb Wegner Award.
"Biz Kid$" introduces business, finance and entrepreneurial skills to young people. The show has been nominated for two Emmy Awards and is one of the highest rated public television programs for children. The Herb Wegner Awards honor credit unions, credit union industry leaders and organizations each year and are given out by the National Credit Union Foundation.
"First Biz Kid$ was nominated for the highest national honors in the television industry. Now it will win the highest national honors in credit union movement," said Missouri Corporate Credit Union President/CEO Dennis DeGroodt, who chaired NCUF's awards and recognition committee during the deliberations on outstanding program nominations.
Every "Biz Kid$" episode begins and ends with a student pulling down a projection screen over a classroom blackboard to reveal the America's Credit Unions logo, the NCUF noted when announcing the award. With a class full of students watching, a narrator reminds viewers that "production funding for Biz Kid$ is provided by America's Credit Unions, where people are worth more than money."
The foundation reported that 334 PBS stations serving 50 states and Washington broadcast Biz Kid$ to more than 112 million households-including more than 230 million people over age two. This represents 97% of the public television market and exceeds all American Public Television children's programs in carriage by 30%. Most PBS stations are airing Biz Kid$ in prime time slots for children's viewing: on weekdays after school and on weekend mornings, NCUF said.
"As CEO of an educational credit union, I saw the value and potential of this innovative program from early on," reflected Rudy Hanley, president/CEO of SchoolsFirst Credit Union in Santa Ana, Calif., one of the program's many financial supporters since its inception. "Through the 'Biz Kid$' program, credit unions are at the forefront of teaching youth about financial independence and social entrepreneurship. The return for our investment has been the promotion of credit unions' core values of self-help, economic empowerment and volunteerism."
Every "Biz Kid$" episode includes four stories from successful young entrepreneurs reinforcing the importance of budgeting, saving and giving back to their community. Several of the featured youth have joined credit unions to achieve their dreams.
"Our vision is for Biz Kid$ to do for financial education what Bill Nye did for science," explained Executive Producer Jamie Hammond, an Emmy Award-winning creator of "Bill Nye the Science Guy." "'Biz Kid$' is designed to engage young people with fun, fast-paced programming that will help them develop life skills in financial literacy and entrepreneurship."
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Visions FCU Holds Concert for Students
Visions Federal Credit Union used music to reach out to college students and Binghamton University.
The credit union hosted a musicsteamLIVE concert event with performances by The Tins, Scott McKenna and Elevation during Binghamton University's Annual University Fest in Binghamton, N.Y. The concert was broadcasted live on www.musicstreamLIVE.com and is now up on www.VISIONSfcuROCKS.org.
During the concert, employees from Visions promoted financial literacy and credit union products and services. They also handed out free prizes and held a grand prize drawing. Staff from the credit union emceed the entire concert and promoted the credit union's Guitar Hero contest.
"With increasing consumer debt, most students don't have the skills necessary to handle money, establish good credit and to know how to set personal savings goals and budgets-we hope we are making the difference by sharing some tools early in their adult lives," said Jayne Searles, assistant vice president of marketing and business development officer at Visions.
The University Fest is an annual event at Binghamton University that welcomes visitors, faculty and students to campus for the new academic year. The event also included other vendor booths, food and carnival rides.
Visions has over $2.2 billion in assets and 120,000 members and offers financial education classes to 30 community high schools and organizations.
Musicstream LIVE is a product of Marketing Partners and works with credit unions to promote and implement live concerts that promote financial literacy at local high schools, colleges and community events.
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INVEST Partners With Three CUs
Broker-Dealer INVEST Financial Corp. has signed on Royal Credit Union, Accentra Credit Union and Cornerstone Federal Credit Union to offer their members brokerage and investment services.
The Tampa, Fla.-based INVEST is a subsidiary of National Planning Holdings independent broker-dealer network in Santa Monica, Calif. NPH is an affiliate of Jackson National Life Insurance Co. INVEST has more than 120 bank and credit union clients and more than 1,000 representatives nationwide.
The $982 million Royal CU is based in Eau Claire, Wis. The $102 million Accentra CU is located in Austin, Minn., and the $77 million Cornerstone FCU is based in Carlisle, Pa.
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Space Coast Brings Express Service to Eastern Financial Florida CU Members
Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union members will soon be able to open deposit accounts and apply for loans over the phone thanks to its merger partner Space Coast Credit Union.
Eastern Financial, a division of $3.2 billion Space Coast in Melbourne, Fla., rolled out Express Services in August. In addition to new account and loan applications, the service will soon allow persons to apply for membership and credit cards via the phone. Over the next few months, Eastern Financial members will also be able open regular rate certificates of deposits and apply for a first mortgage. The credit union said the phone service will not allow the opening of individual retirement accounts or special-rate CDs. Space Coast has been offering Express Services for more than 10 years to its members.
The Miramar, Fla.-based Eastern Financial said the new offering reduces the average wait time to speak with a representative in the branch from 30-45 minutes to less than 30 seconds. With Express Services, the average time to take a car loan application is eight minutes and 10 minutes to provide a decision. To open a new checking account, the average time is four minutes and six minutes to process a new membership application.
In June, Space Coast and Eastern Financial received the green light to merge. NCUA placed Eastern Financial in conservatorship in April and appointed Space Coast to assume operations of the credit union.
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Clearview Installs Heart Monitors
The $602 million Clearview Federal Credit Union has equipped its 12 branches with automated external defibrillators in case a member or employee goes into cardiac arrest.
An AED is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses potentially life threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia in a patient, and is able to treat them through the defibrillation.
The Moon Township, Pa.-based Clearview said its ability to respond to sudden cardiac arrest depends largely on the availability of AED devices and trained employees.
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