For the seventh consecutive year, CORE Federal Credit Union received the prestigious Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award from the New York Credit Union Association. The award honors credit unions that demonstrate a significant commitment to youth financial education.
The award was presented at NYCUA’s Annual Meeting & Convention held in Saratoga Springs earlier this month. CORE received the statewide award in the $50 million to $250 million asset category.
CORE’s winning program, “Students as Educators,” will again advance to a national competition, where it was selected for the past five years as a nationwide winner by the Credit Union National Association.
CORE opened the first student-run credit union in Central New York at ESM High School in 2005. The credit union operates an extensive financial literacy program that includes not only student- run credit union programs at ESM High, Cicero-North Syracuse, and Morrisville-Eaton High Schools, but also a K–8 school banking program, and high school student facilitated adult education seminars.
Using the unique “Students as Educators” model, all of CORE’s programs provide high school students the opportunity to learn about personal finance, how to teach their peers, how to serve as mentors and role models for younger students in the school districts, and how to team-teach adult education sessions with school board members and credit union personnel.
CORE presented the “Students as Educators” program nationally in 2010 at the Education Credit Union Council’s Annual Convention, in 2011 at the National Association of Federal Credit Unions’ Annual Convention in San Francisco, and in 2012 at the Institute for Financial Literacy’s Annual Convention in Orlando. Notably, CORE received an Excellence in Financial Literacy Award from the Institute for Financial Literacy in 2011.
CORE actively works with credit unions and school districts throughout New York state, and nationally, to assist them in enhancing their own student financial literacy programs.