Financial Literacy Month ends on high with Youth Reality Fair
FINANCIAL LITERACY Month in credit unions comes to an end on April 30. It was a month in which credit unions used the opportunities afforded them by the celebration to focus on the financial shape of their members.
The main activity undertaken by credit unions was the updating of members’ membership cards to ensure that their information, especially those relating to beneficiaries, are current.
The major highlight of Financial Literacy Month was the Youth Reality Fair- held at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville on April 21. More than 100 grade-eight to 10 high-school students from Kingston and St Andrew, St James, Hanover, Portland, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland and Manchester participated in the event. They got the opportunity to put into practice the five element of financial literacy – learning to earn, saving, budgeting, borrowing and being smart consumers.
The students were first part of a one-day financial education programme in high schools and were selected by credit unions to participate in the Reality Fair.
It was a learning experience filled with
excitement, that allowed the students to use the information gained at their
financial education class to make billpaying and purchasing decisions as though they were in the working world. A virtual marketplace was created and boasted shops which sold food, clothing, motor vehicles, electronic equipment, insurance and facilitated bill payment and a credit union for savings, borrowing and financial counselling.
The Reality Fair was organised by the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League. The Credit Unions of Jamaica brand was joining the counterparts in North America for the second year to observe Financial Literacy Month.