Corvallis, OR and Albany, NY - For the first time ever, this fall high school juniors and seniors across the state of New York will be reading their own special edition of brass|CU young today, rich tomorrow courtesy of New York credit unions. The brainchild of 22-year old brass|Media Inc. Founder/CEO Bryan Sims, the customizable quarterly magazine, written by and for young adults 18-25 years old, focuses on the young adult lifestyle while providing a fresh, fun take on money- how to make it, manage it and multiply it.

With a customizable feature, its popularity has grown in the credit union movement with its February issue hitting 118 credit union subscribers in 33 states and reaching some 210,000 readers. "The way we choose to go about supporting financial education initiatives and concepts is to give it a different spin," said Sims. "Look, to this audience in general, the word financial is viewed as boring and education brings thoughts of school-we focus on the money and how it can work for them-that is what is most interesting about finances."

What started as an inquiry from N.Y. State Education Department Business/Marketing Education Supervisor Jon Greenwalt, who happened on an issue of brass|CU at a credit union, has led to a unique cooperative among N.Y. CUs, the N.Y. Credit Union Foundation, brass|Media Inc. and the NY State Department of Education to launch the brass|STUDENT Program.

"I thought this magazine is something students would actually take the time to read and it had the potential for multiple uses beyond financial education. Since I've been out of the classroom for a while, I sent a few copies to some teachers to get feedback on whether this was something they could use and their response was `Great magazine! Can you get me 100 copies?'" said Greenwalt. "So hoping to get this magazine into the hands of hundreds of thousands of my colleagues I call brass-only to find out that I couldn't get them at the time in the quantities we needed."

According to Sims, the solution to getting copies into the hands of teachers and students across New York State was simple-turn to credit unions. "As soon as Jon started talking about getting brass into high schools we knew we wanted this to be something to offer to credit unions," said Sims. "It is a great opportunity to set a national example, give back to communities all across the state and show just how credit unions can make a difference."
With a goal of helping high school students better understand the importance of money and how it impacts their lives, the program is designed as a two-year pilot to provide educational resources to N.Y. state high schools. Interested credit unions can opt for the two-year $20,000 (split into two payments of $10,000) or $10,000 (split into two payments of $5,000) sponsorship plans. Mailed quarterly to school principals, approximately 30,000 magazines per issue will be distributed.

"The statistics show that 70% of young adults have chosen their financial institution between the ages of 17 to 21 and they stay with that financial institution for 10 years or more-I don't know too many credit unions that can tell you they are effectively reaching that market," said Capital Communications Federal Credit Union CEO Paula Stopera, who initiated the grassroots efforts among NY CUs to sponsor the brass|STUDENT program. "Not only can we reach thousands of teens in the community but what I also loved is the idea of credit unions working together on an initiative as important as this. There is no time right now in the school curriculum for life learning and as a generation of spenders, anything we can do to educate and change those patterns of escalating debt back into a savings mode benefits everyone."

N.Y. CU Foundation Executive Director Diane LaVigna Wixted adds that the program was also a great fit with other league financial education initiatives already in place such as the NEFE and Lifesmarts program. "Our credit unions have always been very involved in a variety of financial education programs and to now be able to literally leap into the hands of teens across the state and have the opportunity to help them understand what we do- it is just very exciting for N.Y. to lead the way in this," said Wixted. "So far 13 credit unions have signed up, but we expect more as they hear about this opportunity."

Consisting of three components the program will feature the following:

• Special student edition of brass|CU Magazine to be distributed to all public high schools in the state for teachers to use as a stand-alone resource or in conjunction with other credit union industry supplied resources including NEFE and LifeSmarts. Each public high school can receive at least one classroom set of brass|CU equal to 10% of their junior and senior high school enrollment. All schools will also receive at least two copies of brass|CU for their library. The student edition will include a four-page insert about the sponsors and the credit union difference.
• brass|Teacher Resource Center- a Web site that provides archived brass|CU articles and instructional materials and activities to support using the magazine in classroom discussions. In addition, suggestions for integrating other programs such as NEFE materials with brass|CU magazine will also be available. Teachers and students will also be able to provide online feedback.
• Credit Unions for College - an online searchable database of credit union supported scholarships. While it will initially feature N.Y., scholarships, plans are underway to allow credit unions across the country to post their scholarship offerings as well. Students will be able to do a one-stop search to see which credit unions are offering college scholarships in their area and then jump directly to the sponsoring credit union's Web site.

"A key piece of this program is that it was initially conceived because teachers were so interested and it is something that teachers have been asking for," said Sims. "And they were very involved in the development process and their input helped create this amazing resource."

"The message given is a pretty important one," adds Greenwalt. "Not only is it another resource available to the classroom teacher to help students understand about life decisions that do have economic impact, but if kids can bring this home it can also create a separate conversation around the dinner table. Financial literacy is a big topic nationally. If you look at corporate America, pensions are going away. The company isn't going to take care of its employees anymore, so if you have a 401(k) knowing how to diversify those funds becomes more important."
Credit unions interested in launching the program in their state should first have some type of delivery system in place to reach the schools says Greenwalt. "I have a network of about 1,600 business teachers I can contact via e-mail so I can give them updates and there can be a teacher coordinator already in place ready to head the program in the school," said Greenwalt. "The last thing any principal, who is incredibly busy running a school district, wants is to just be sent a letter about a new program. With my network there is a ready-made volunteer on site who is well informed and prepared to help coordinate efforts."

Greenwalt says it is also important to make the connections for the teachers to better understand its purpose in how it can fit into a 9-12 grade secondary program. "It is not just a handout but the articles have a real use as a part of the curriculum in terms of promoting critical thinking and decision making skills," said Greenwalt. Stopera adds that having Wixted coordinate efforts with brass helped immensely.

"The foundation not only made a contribution but Diane put in so many hours bringing the details together -you need that so someone is there to coordinate all the questions," said Stopera. "Also this is an opportunity for state leagues. So many are under pressure from credit unions wondering where their dues are going, but with this they can demonstrate just how leagues help in the state to keep credit unions united and working toward a common goal. As things change over time credit unions as a whole are going to have to do a lot more cooperative efforts to survive the challenges of the future."

Sims says he sees national potential with this program. "This could be one of the largest collaborative efforts nationwide credit unions can do to work with the community," said Sims. "It is a no brainer-credit unions are about making a difference in the lives of their members and this is a perfect opportunity to show the public and young adults just what credit unions are all about." -mdigivoanni@cutimes.com