Financial Literacy Starts at an Early Age: A Community Outreach Moment with Chalana Williams

It’s never too late to start on a path of a healthy financial future.

Chalana Williams, SVP, Chief Community Development Officer at First Federal Lakewood, saw an opportunity to partner with Campus International High School in Cleveland to help educate students on banking careers and the importance of financial health.

Williams was joined by Nina Salsgiver, branch manager at the Dave’s MidTown branch, and Amy Davin, director of human resources. They touched on the variety of banking careers that may not be well known as well topics around basic money management skills, establishing budgets, maintaining good credit and more.
“My hope is that we can break down misconceptions of bankers and that our presence enlightened them on having a career in banking,” Williams said. “They had a chance to get to know us as bankers while learning about the benefits of banking, starting a savings account and budgeting your money.”

The fun didn’t just stop there. Williams put together an activity where each student had a chance to get their thinking caps on and get creative. Each student received a different income level and they had to make choices based on their salaries about where to live, what to eat and how to get around.

“I also threw in a few other responsibilities like taking care of family members, paying for activities and other instances,” she said. “They had to work within their salary to make it all work.”
Williams received a very positive reaction from the students.

“They loved it!” Williams said. “The students were very engaged and were asking questions throughout the presentation. I’m hoping that exercises like this could help build a foundation of good money management skills as they grow and get more responsibilities.”

Interested in learning more about our community outreach? Read about our past events (and see what events are on our calendar for 2022!) Don’t forget to also follow us on Facebook(external), Instagram(external), LinkedIn(external) and YouTube(external) to see what we’re up to in the bank and in our communities.