Financial Reality Month climaxes with youth fair

AFTER THREE weeks of Credit Union Financial Reality, the month’s activities climaxed last Friday with the Youth Financial Reality Fair at the Globe View Hotel in Mandeville, Manchester. Just over 130 students from high schools in Kingston, St Catherine, Portland, St James, Westmoreland, Manchester, and St James attended the event.

Credit union marketing officers/managers representing several credit unions and the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League executed the activities for the fair. Present also were volunteers from Caribbean Development Education, which cosponsored the event.

Well-known social media influencer ‘Dutty Berry’ and radio personality Jenny Jenny played key roles: the former was the moderator for the spending event while the latter brought tons of vibes and had the students showing off their singing and dancing talents.

The event was arranged to allow the students, who were earlier in the month taught in a classroom setting about creating budgets, to simulate the spending of a month’s salary. They were helped in their awareness, and at the end, many testified to their difficulty in budgeting, while others said that they had developed an appreciation of the financial challenges faced by their parents.

This fair was the second such, with the first being held last year. The goal is to reach 500 high-school students in three years and to bring these students into credit unions as savers. This is only the start of a process to grow the youth demographic in credit unions.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS The 10 excellent ‘budgetters’ pose with their $5,000 savings certificates, which was one of the prizes they received.

Students purchasing cars from the ‘car mart’.

Credit union volunteer, JodiAnn Deslandes (left), assisting a student with her budget.

Students line up to ‘pay’ utility bills at the Credit Union Reality Fair. Two volunteers assist the students.

Media personality Jenny Jenny interacts with students in the entertainment segment.

Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League’s President Winston Fletcher (left) shares a laugh with RJR’s ‘Two Live Crew’ at the outside broadcast to launch Financial Reality Month.

T-shirts identified CaribDe, co-sponsor of the event.

Students interested in purchasing luxury items pause for advice from a volunteer.

Students hard at work on their budgets.