BayPort Credit Union Wins State-Level Financial Education Award

NEWPORT NEWS, VA (12/22/2011)(readMedia)-- BayPort Credit Union has won 2nd Place in the state Desjardins Youth Financial Education Awards for credit unions. The Desjardins Awards, sponsored by the Virginia Credit Union League and the Credit Union National Association, honor credit unions for their commitment to teaching personal finance basics in their communities.

The credit union was recognized for several innovative financial education programs it offers itself or through partnerships, including FoolProof, a highly-interactive web -based financial literacy program, and a financial education grant initiative that helps local teachers fund financial education programs at their schools.

The credit union also covered registration costs and hotel accommodations for 18 area teachers to attend the Jump$tart National Educator Conference in Washington, D.C. This two-day conference is devoted entirely to helping educators teach personal financial concepts in the classroom.

In addition, the credit union sponsored a "Financial Football Summer Training Camp," with 120 participants from the Peninsula Boys & Girls Clubs attending four day camps designed to provide them with solid knowledge in the key areas of saving, credit and budgeting.

"Financial education has always been essential for the average family trying to decide how to balance its budget, buy a home, fund an education, or plan retirement," says BayPort Credit Union President/CEO George Dudley. "Today, however, financial education has taken on even greater importance owed to the increasingly complex and sophisticated products within the financial marketplace and the fact so much of the responsibility for retirement, as a prime example, has been shifted away from government and employers and to the average consumer. Our hope is to aid our schools in teaching personal finance and to directly provide resources that help individuals improve their money management knowledge."

The award is named in honor of Alphonse Desjardins, the founder of the North American credit union movement, who established the first "caisse populaire" (people's bank) in Quebec in 1900, and helped establish the first American credit union in New Hampshire in 1909. Desjardins was an ardent believer in the value of teaching individuals to save, and he promoted the idea of in-school savings programs (caisses scolaires).

With total assets of $1.2 billion, Bayport Credit Union is a member-owned, full-service financial institution with 13 branch locations in Newport News, Hampton, Grafton, Gloucester, Williamsburg, Smithfield, Suffolk and Chesapeake serving individuals and businesses in the Greater Hampton Roads community. Visit the credit union online at www.bayportcu.org.