See the interview with Kainoa Carlson of HI Now and HawaiiUSA’s Bryan Yucoco.

 

Financial literacy is an important skill for our keiki to learn at a young age. Even pre-pandemic, many of Hawaii’s families found themselves in real financial struggles. In fact, 42% households in Hawaii were already struggling to make ends meet; 9% of these struggling households fell below the Federal Poverty Level. The 33% who make up the difference are whom the Aloha United Way have identified as ALICE—Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. These households unfortunately have no safety net for emergencies, their income falls short of basic necessities, and although working can’t afford Hawaii’s high cost of living. This is the financial reality that many of those living in Hawaii find themselves in and why strengthening financial wellness and helping to ensure proper financial education is being provided in our schools’ classrooms is something HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union holds in the highest value.

Some of the ways HawaiiUSA is helping grow financial education and providing opportunities for students include HawaiiUSA SOCUs, financial reality fairs, HawaiiUSA student scholarships, and partnering with HACAC!

Their new partnership with Chaminade provides 20 scholarships to teachers participating in the “Economics and Personal Finance for K-12 Educators” summer workshop happening on July 11-15. The goal of this workshop is to equip and enable those participating teacher with curriculum and guidance to be ready to teach economics and personal finance at their respective grade levels. With how important it is for students, no matter the ages, to get comfortable with the concept of money, this program is geared to create educators and environments conducive to learning and instilling responsible, sustainable financial behaviors.

Available resources for students: gohawaiigrad.com