OAK RIDGE, Tenn.–To mark Financial Capability Month, Y-12 Federal Credit Union (Y-12 FCU) noted it has prioritized financial education as a top initiative for over a decade.
With 12 high school partnerships, a presence on six college campuses in East Tennessee, and serving over 15 community organizations, Y-12 FCU said it has a dedicated financial outreach team to empower youth to understand and feel comfortable talking about finance.
“We know that teenagers and young adults spend a lot of time on digital platforms,” said John Nolan, who manages the financial outreach team. “Whether it’s social media, online banking, or playing games, an overwhelming portion of their day is in a digital ecosystem.”
In April 2022, Y-12 FCU’s financial outreach team partnered with the gamification app Zogo, which offers a practical structure to provide a learning environment for personal finance. Users get rewarded in pineapples, which they can redeem for gift cards to retailers like Amazon, Starbucks, and others.
Since launching the platform, Y-12 FCU said it surpassed 2,000 users in less than a year, putting the organization in the top 10% of Zogo partners for first-year growth.
To kick off Financial Capability Month, Y-12 FCU announced three more digital financial literacy partners: Banzai, KOFE, and My First Nest Egg. “These partnerships will increase the team’s ability to reach more students and credit union members with financial education materials that will boost knowledge and confidence, all in a digital environment,” the credit union said.
Three local schools signed up to be a part of the Banzai program with the credit union as soon as the partnership was signed in April, and a dozen more have shown interest.
Y-12 FCU noted that according to an annuity.org report released in February 2023, 75% of teenagers lack confidence in their knowledge of personal finance. Additionally, the information shed light on credit card debt and stated that Americans owe over $800 billion in credit card debt as of the first-quarter, 2022.