The Illinois State Credit Union, in partnership with the Bloomington Public Library, is offering financial literacy sessions next month for teens in grades 6 through 12.
Carolina Pancrazio Diez, a staff member at Illinois State Credit Union, said the sessions are designed to help teenagers with any aspect of their finances.
“These classes are not a school requirement, and we want to offer them to the community for free. We want them to know they have a resource within Illinois State Credit Union to learn about the topics they are interested in. So, during the classes, we are teaching them how to begin their healthy financial journey,” said Pancrazio Diez.
The classes during these sessions are anything but basic or boring, according to the Illinois State Credit Union.
“During these sessions, we do activities and games with the students. We also do something for the ‘reality fair,’ where the kids can come and practice budgeting and how to save. The people who come to our classes already arrive with interest, so we help them put an action plan together. This financial training in April is offered in both English and Spanish,” said Pancrazio Diez.
The financial education sessions are offered in both languages to ensure accessibility. The English session is on April 14, and the Spanish session is April 21.
“It is very important for us to be able to meet our members where they are. If they speak English, we can talk to them in English. But it is also important that they are in Spanish because many of our members speak Spanish, and we want them to feel comfortable. For example, within Illinois State Credit Union, they can ask for help with translation services or an explanation of a product. We want them to know they don’t have to change to be members with us,” said Pancrazio Diez.
Illinois State Credit Union aims to create a community without barriers based on native languages.
“They can speak in their native language. We want our members to receive their education where they feel comfortable and safe. It’s perfect,” said Pancrazio Diez.
The challenges faced by these teenagers are seen not only as a financial difficulty but also as a responsibility to help their entire families.
“I believe it’s budgeting and ways to save because it is common that parents don’t know much about finances. Often, it is the children who are going to teach the parents. So, I think it’s a bit of everything: credit scores, savings, and budgeting,” said Pancrazio Diez.
During the sessions, the credit union has noticed that parents are also learning alongside their children.
“During the teen classes, it’s often the parents who have questions and are taking notes. The truth is that parents are the ones who will model and teach their children. Because of this, we have seen an increase in people wanting to take the class and have received requests to open it up to adults and parents,” said Pancrazio Diez.
Pancrazio Diez suggests that these sessions are a way to teach everyone in the community how to have a healthy financial life.
“The truth is, sometimes [financial situations] are negative because they don’t know how to save, as they didn’t have that model before taking the classes. Many of these families are immigrants, so they didn’t have finance classes in the schools where they were born,” said Pancrazio Diez.
“The reaction was very positive. We are very grateful to the library for offering the space to do this and for announcing our classes to their members. The library offers so many free resources, and the relationship we have with them is incredible,” said Pancrazio Diez.
Illinois State Credit Union also offers “reality fairs,” where teens are assigned a profession and must manage a budget while navigating the world of getting a credit card, buying a home, and other real-life situations. It is described as a live-action version of the game LIFE.
“I have seen many people who were at a reality fair or who were in our class before. They learned a lot because they had those questions, and there was a conversation. It wasn’t just a teacher and students; it was a conversation, so they could ask the things they wanted to learn. We want to be that resource within Illinois State Credit Union to help everyone with all the questions they may have. If a teenager wants to continue learning after this event,” said Pancrazio Diez, “[they can].”
“With the library, there are many free resources, and we at Illinois State Credit Union also have many products. With our translation service, we take that time with them to learn what they need and how we can help them. We can help them,” she said.
“Continuing our relationship with the library, we will have the opportunity later on to offer more classes in Spanish for both teenagers and adults,” said Pancrazio Diez.
Illinois State Credit Union hopes to enrich its relationship with the Bloomington Public Library and begin offering sessions that serve as a continuation of the “Financial Education for Teens: Making Financial Decisions” series.
The credit union’s message for all teenagers is the great importance that financial literacy has—and will always have—in their lives.
“Right now is the best time to start saving your money. There is no perfect time to start. We want the classes to be fun so they can learn and be happy with this new topic in their lives,” said Pancrazio Diez.
Registration is now open for both the English session on April 14 and the one in Spanish on April 21.
This story was written in Spanish by a human and then translated into English with the help of an artificial intelligence tool. Subsequently, that translation was reviewed and edited by a human.