Reliant Community Credit Union and Lyons National Bank have partnered with Catholic Charities of Wayne County to provide financial education programming in all 11 Wayne County high schools. The financial education workshops are provided at no cost to students through Healthy Relationships of the Finger Lakes, a Catholic Charities program.
Reliant and Lyons National Bank worked together to develop the financial education curriculum that is being taught in the workshops, ensuring universal content and messaging are presented to all students. Topics covered include getting paid, budgeting, saving money, wise spending practices, debit cards vs. credit cards, and fees. Members of the Reliant and Lyons National Bank teams attend workshops at the schools to present the curriculum to the students and allow time for questions. The financial education sessions began in the fall of 2019, and will run throughout the remainder of the school year.
“Reliant was founded as a teachers’ credit union, and helping members of our community better understand their money through financial education will always be a major focus for us,” said Pamela Heald, Reliant’s President & CEO. “We jumped at the opportunity to partner with Catholic Charities of Wayne County and Lyons National Bank to ensure students in our region are learning important financial concepts. We truly appreciate and value such meaningful community partnerships.”
“For over 165 years, LNB has focused on positively impacting the local communities we serve through involvement in enrichment programs,” said Robert Schick, CEO and Chairman of the Board at LNB. “This workshop is a strong example of local organizations working together to educate future generations. LNB is proud to be part of such a worthwhile project.”
“Catholic Charities is proud to be collaborating with other organizations around Wayne County. LNB and Reliant Community Credit Union were wonderful to work with and provided students a wonderful opportunity to gain financial literacy,” said Melissa McCauley – Program Manager for Healthy Relationships of the Finger Lakes. “The students were engaged and felt comfortable asking the LNB and Reliant employees lots of questions. One student said, ‘I had no idea there was a difference between a debit and credit card.’ Another student said, ‘This is amazing. My parents set up an account for me, but nobody really explained it, I’m glad I learned how to work my own account.’ Financial literacy and education are powerful tools to a successful future, and we are so grateful to LNB and Reliant Community Credit Union for providing this opportunity to Wayne County students through our collaboration.”