New York credit unions want high school students statewide to have brass, as in the boldness and smarts to earn money and invest it. To help teenagers achieve that goal, 19 credit unions statewide -- including six in the Capital Region -- have banded together for a $370,000 financial literacy pilot program. The two-year program will provide New York public schools with free copies of brass magazine, a money lifestyle magazine geared toward helping young adults budget for everything from a college education to the prom -- sort of the Rolling Stone of finance.

At Albany High School on Tuesday, credit union and education officials unveiled a "brass Student Program," which in late-August started sending the 32-page, glossy quarterly magazines to the school. Economics and other teachers have incorporated brass into their class lessons. Through the partnership with the Corvallis, Ore.-based brass Media, New York teachers and students will also have access to online lesson plans and a searchable database for college scholarships offered through credit unions in New York.

"The financial literacy of the younger people is probably at an all-time low, so it's important to help educate them," said Walter Everhardt, the director of marketing for First New York Federal Credit Union in Schenectady, one of the brass program's sponsors.

The initiative headed by the New York State Credit Union Foundation aims to instill fiscal prudence in young Americans, who last year spent $150 billion. While teenagers have always exhibited a knack for spending, their knowledge of money matters has lagged, and some argue it is worsening. Sixty-six percent of high school seniors surveyed in 2004 failed an exam on financial literacy, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"Knowledge is power. Economic knowledge is freedom, and that's what this is all about," U.S. Rep. John McEneny, D-Albany, said at the Tuesday news conference in Albany High's auditorium.

The school program marks a milestone for brass Media, which was launched three years ago by a University of Oregon student. Since then, the magazine started by 23-year-old Bryan Sims has seen its readership grow to 270,000 credit union members and 30,000 New York high school students. The high schools participating in the brass program will each receive enough magazines for 10 percent of their population of juniors and seniors.
The state Department of Education forged New York's relationship with brass after the agency's supervisor of business and marketing education, Jon Greenwalt, discovered a copy of the magazine at his local credit union in 2004. He passed copies of brass onto high school business teachers, who received it with much fanfare and requested more copies for their classrooms. With New York's support, Sims said he expects the student edition of brass to take off nationwide.

"We knew they were interested. We just needed to find a way to distribute it," said brass co-founder Steven Sims, Bryan Sims's father.

The other local credit unions sponsoring the brass program include Capital Communications FCU, Hudson River Community Credit Union, Members United Corporate FCU, TCT FCU and Sunmark FCU. The New York State Credit Union Foundation is the charitable arm of the New York State Credit Union League, a Latham trade organization.
The initiative is the latest local endeavor designed to educate high school students on financial issues. The Capital Region Bankruptcy Bar Association last year launched a Credit Abuse Resistance and Education program. Under the CARE program, which started in Rochester in 2002, local bankruptcy attorneys educate students about proper money management and credit card abuse.

Reach Gazette reporter James Schlett at 395-3040 or jschlett @ dailygazette.net