President's Message

This week’s President’s Message is from Dave Hinchey, VP of Community and Social Impact, where he details what is next for Financial Reality Fairs.

As always,
Bruce

In November 2019, credit unions and CUBFI—the League’s charitable foundation--were eager to unveil and launch the Connecticut version of the Bite of Reality app.

The app would considerably lessen the workload for teachers, credit union staff and volunteers, but more importantly, helped us reach more students in the format they prefer—digital.

Hundreds of high school students joined us that day and marked a successful jump from our obsolete paper-pencil method of teaching financial education and onto a mobile platform.

We even had a record number of school and student signups for events the Spring of 2020. That is, until the global pandemic shuttered schools and businesses across the world for a brief period.

Who knew that it would be almost two and a half years before we put on another full-scale in-person event again?

In the early days of the pandemic, I remember scrambling, trying to figure out how to teach financial education in a remote setting. Schools across the country had shifted to remote learning but nobody really knew what that was supposed to look like or how well it would work.

Connecticut took on a leadership role by delivering the first virtual reality fair to high school students in the country during the pandemic. Other states even observed our process and followed our lead.

We were proud that the virtual model served more than 2,000 Connecticut students during the pandemic years, on top of the 34,000 students we served since 2008.

Still, while the virtual model worked well, would we ever return to in-person financial education?

Asking about the future of reality fairs, some have expressed skepticism of a full return to in person gatherings like we did before COVID. After all, the pandemic changed so much of our lives. Were we ever going to get hundreds of students together at the same time inside a gym moving from station to station?

The good news and the answer to that question is—yes. And we did it just last week.

CUBFI along with some volunteers from Mutual Security Credit Union and the high school PTA, were able to put on a full in-person reality fair for 450 students at Staples HS in Westport.

I can’t overstate the impact on me and the entire foundation board of returning to “normal.”  The way our students’ eyes light up at reality fairs shows that financial education is not only effective but necessary. And Connecticut’s Credit Unions are leading the way.

There’s something uniquely beneficial about in-person interaction. Something that Zoom or simple classroom lecturing lacks. Even the first-time volunteers were not only exposed to credit unions and the work we’re doing in communities across Connecticut, but they engaged with the ideas and learned enough about credit unions to share their learning with others.

Have you considered hosting a reality fair in your local community? Have you seen the Bite of Reality app which makes these events run smoothly and efficiently? It is easy to have a successful event when you partner with CUBFI.

Consider incorporating an in-person event later this year or going in front of a classroom in your local community to present one of these simulations. We’ll teach you how to do it.

Better yet, join us at Killingly HS in Killingly, CT on May 18th so you can see it in person for yourself. You’ll be glad to have volunteered and made a difference to more than 400+ high school students.

If nothing else, celebrate the return to normal with us.

Dave
Dave Hinchey
VP of Community and Social Impact
dhinchey@culct.coop