Why we love NYIB

by. Brady Sahnow

I had the pleasure of speaking at the National Youth Involvement Board’s Annual Conference last week in Grand Rapids, Michigan. brass has been a regular at the NYIB conference; it remains a “can’t miss” on our event schedule because of its dedicated attendees and commitment to financial education for young adults.

I wanted to share three takeaways from this year that I found really helpful.

You can’t beat feet on the street

It would be folly for me to learn about the best way to play the game from the team’s owner in the luxury box instead of learning from LeBron James on the court. The NYIB conference puts financial educators from credit unions together in one place at one time. Board members, executive leadership, and even marketing teams have a difficult time replicating the explanations, terminology, results and experience those real classroom financial educators live on a day to day basis. Putting all of those folks in one place to build and share on ideas is the best way to find out what works, what doesn’t, and what should be next.

We’ll keep trying to crack this nut

One of the themes from the conference was to make sure everyone continues fighting the good fight. Be it through reporting student interactions, encouraging other colleagues and organizations to take up the cause, or just refusing to give into the naysayers, the crew at NYIB perseveres.  With momentum for state and local financial literacy standards continuing to build across the country, there is more opportunity than ever to get in front of students and teach them about the Money Side of Life™ in a way that is meaningful and relevant to them.

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