Recruitment & Application. As part of our application packet, we always include a one-pager on the benefits of banking which is provided to us by our local partner bank (Excite credit Union). We also include any other material that will help explain the saving/checking's program with ECU. This year, we hope to have someone from ECU present during our application collection dates and I-9 verification. During our initial application process, students are required to answer a form that poses the question if they have a banking institution, and if so, which one. We also include a direct deposit form as having a bank account is a requirement for participation. We also disclose that if any youth does not have a banking institution, that we will provide one for them with Excite Credit union. Since we will be collecting application packets in person and checking for I-9, identifying those students with no banking accounts will be fairly simple and can have a conversation with them about the benefits of opening one. And if we can get an ECU representative on these dates, students will possibly have the opportunity to open an account during these sessions. Enrollment & Orientation: Our program has multiple opportunities of how we instill financial education and the benefits. This year, we will have the opportunity to start educating and holding conversations with students as early as during our collection of application and I-9 verification sessions. We also continue the discussion of benefits of banking during our mandatory training sessions and during their work experience. We will be utilizing Bank of America, MyPath curriculum, and new implementations created by our program ambassadors. Our program continuously shares and promotes any information we receive and have about banking opportunities throughout the program and even after its end date. For example, last year we shared with student's virtual workshops that our credit union partners were hosting for the youth and parents on student and car loans by sharing their flyer and offering extra hours for attending. During training week, every student is required to come up with a savings goal as it is part of the first day of training. During the program, we check in with students to see how their budget expense tracking sheet is going. We also offer a $100 target gift card to the top 2 “savers”. We currently are revisiting a conversation with our partners at ECU if we can match the top 5 savers or possibly, all students who put money asid...
