Press

MECU of Baltimore Uses Financial Education to Engage Young Adults in Baltimore

Baltimore, MD December 4, 2012– During the months of October and November, MECU of Baltimore provided 163 young adults in Baltimore with financial education with their 1st “Growing into Wealth Young Adult Financial Workshop Series.”  Over the course of six weeks, several financial experts taught young adults how to manage their student loan debt, improve their credit score, prepare for homeownership, save for retirement, start a business, and build wealth.

The Growing into Wealth Young Adult Financial Workshop Series was created by MECU’s Young Adult Advisory Group, a group of Gen Y MECU employees that works to find solutions to increase  young adult membership .“We have found that young adults are having some difficulty managing their money,” said Lauren Gill, MECU’s Young Adult Marketing Specialist.  “This workshop series allowed us to build trust with young adults and provide them with the financial education they need. We received very positive feedback about our workshop series and many people have contacted us to find out when we will do this again.”

Interestingly, MECU found was that young adults have a high interest in entrepreneurship. “The 9-5 life isn’t for me: How to finance and launch a small business venture” was the most highly attended workshop in the series with 50 attendees.

The “Growing into Wealth Young Adult Financial Workshop Series” is a part of MECU’s comprehensive strategy to gain more young adult members. MECU is planning to do two workshop series for young adults in 2013.

MECU is a member-owned not-for-profit financial cooperative committed to providing its members with high quality financial services through sound management and innovation for over 75 years.  It represents 100,000 members, with assets over $1.2 billion.

---