The Gift of Financial Literacy
First United Bank has been a longtime supporter of Together We Thrive and philanthropic leader in the communities they serve. From supporting our Playing for a Purpose Tennis Tournament and Casino Night events, to organizing their own annual United Acts of Kindness Day, First United Bank is on a mission to help elevate 30 million lives and help individuals spend life wisely.
One way that First United Bank is accomplishing this goal is by teaching financial literacy skills such as saving, budgeting and managing debts. Financial literacy is an especially crucial skill for youth to hone in order to grow into independent and stable adults. For at risk youth, this skill may not be taught in schools or modeled well in their home environment. If youth cannot learn these important life skills at school or at home, where will they?
When youth don’t understand how money works or how to manage their personal finances, it increases their chances of making unwise money decisions like overspending, not saving enough, and accumulating debts. The mismanagement of money as youth enter into young adulthood can have lifelong effects, such as not being able to purchase a home or developing bad habits like gambling.
For all of these reasons, we believe that when our Life Coaches teach financial literacy, it truly empowers our youth and better equips them to manage their money wisely and become independent young adults.
This is where First United Bank has stepped in to be a huge blessing to our youth! First United Bank has gifted Together We Thrive with Banzai, a fun, online program that helps kids and adults learn to handle money in a real way. Youth get to interact with programs that help them understand the basics of finances – the things that they need to know once they become adults.
Ana Garcia, First United Bank Regional Business Development Officer for Texas, shared that, “One thing that I love about Banzai is that it uses humor and updated vocabulary that today’s youth use to make it fun and keep them engaged.”
Our Life Coaches have recently introduced Banzai to our youth and the feedback we’ve received so far is amazing! Youth are loving Banzai and we know it is equipping them with life skills that matter. We are so grateful for First United Bank’s ongoing support and their generous gift that will help our youth as they seek to rewrite their futures and reach a place of sustainability.
We couldn’t do this work without supporters like First United Bank. We truly are BETTER TOGETHER! If you have a program, like Banzai, or another gift that could change the lives of at risk youth in North Texas, we would love to talk with you more about what that could look like and how you could be the difference!
