April showers may bring May flowers, but April also showers upon us a wealth of financial literacy lessons as banks and credit unions team up with community organizations to celebrate Financial Literacy month.
“People who’ve worked for banks are the best-positioned to deliver financial literacy lessons, and that gives us almost a responsibility to do so,” Joe Parisi, the vice president of marketing at Mansfield Bank, said.
And indeed, many Massachusetts banks take that responsibility seriously – not just during the month of April, but year-round in their communities.
One of the cornerstones of many financial literacy programs: It’s never too early to start saving.
“I’ve met 80 year-olds who’ve reminded me that their first exposure to banking was when our employees would go into their classroom with a little passbook and they would make their nickel deposit,” Dorothy Savarese, president and CEO of Cape Cod Five Savings Bank, said.
“Research demonstrates that a key intervention time for teaching financial literacy is during middle school grades. It’s also been shown through studies that this engagement can start as early as kindergarten. As students get a little bit older, the performance gap widens,” Emily Neill, president of Junior Achievement’s Northern New England chapter, explained.
“It’s like building a house,” she continued. “You have to start with the foundation and work your way up. Our programs start as early as kindergarten.”
For instance, Cambridge Savings Bank will participate in a “Teach Children to Save” program that is expected to reach approximately 800 kindergarten students. According to Evan Diamond, vice president and financial education program manager, bank employees will volunteer their time with area schools, reading to students, teaching the comparative value of coins and giving each child a piggy bank and $1 to start them on the road to successful saving.
Many financial institutions, including HarborOne Credit Union, have also hosted Credit for Life fairs at local high schools, during which students can role-play as an adult with an income, credit score and financial decisions to make.
Immigrants, Seniors Aided
Junior Achievement of Northern New England partners with banks, as well as other companies, to host the “Skills to Achieve” program for students from underprivileged or at-risk schools, president Emily Neill told Banker & Tradesman. For a recent “Skills to Achieve” program, Boston Private Bank & Trust welcomed 20 high school students from West Roxbury and gave them to lessons on credit, marketing themselves, resume- building and interview skills.
While the majority of financial literacy efforts focus on children, adolescents and college students, outreach doesn’t entirely stop after school.
“Right now, there is a tremendous demand for reliable information on homeownership,” Diamond said, so many banks also offer educational programs for first-time homebuyers.
And the rise of digital communication has also brought with it a new type of scammer – and the need for a new chapter in financial literacy.
Several years ago, Savarese said, she’d received feedback from many branch employees concerned about financial exploitation among seniors, so the bank, which had always trained branch employees to identify fraud and exploitation, stepped it up a notch.
“We’ve partnered with councils on aging and police departments, and members of our staff have done a number of these programs focused on senior citizens,” she said.
Savarese said Cape Cod Five has also offered a series of seminars on estate planning to cater to the area’s significant senior community.
Some financial literacy efforts target low- to moderate-income individuals and families, often focused on growing immigrant populations.
Cambridge Savings Bank, for example, will also partner with the city-run Cambridge Community Learning Center for the second year in a row to bring financial literacy lessons to new immigrants who are learning English and working toward their GEDs and U.S. citizenship.
“It takes a lot of delicacy and creativity to teach fairly complex financial concepts to people who are just learning the language, but the students have really responded well to our lessons. We can make them feel comfortable speaking to a banker who’s visiting their classroom,” Diamond explained. “It’s an environment in which they feel comfortable asking questions they might not be willing to ask if they walk into a bank cold. They understand we’re in an educating mode rather than a selling mode.”
Email: lalix@thewarrengroup.com
