Desert Schools Federal Credit Union

Establishing a Business Education Partnership, CISA and Desert Schools Federal Credit Union (DSFCU) continues its relationship by partnering with Balsz Elementary School in the Balsz School District. Located in central Phoenix, Balsz is comprised of 80% Hispanic students, with 91% of students receiving free or reduced lunch. Balsz is receiving $10,000 to support increased knowledge in financial literacy through this new partnership.

Fifth grade students are the primary target in this partnership. Approximately 75 students in three classrooms will participate in a financial literacy curriculum during the school year. Students recently completed a pre-test assessment of their financial literacy to compare against a post test at the end of the year. General activities such as managing DSFCU volunteers, family nights, adult programs, and coordination of additional businesses/organizations are just a few areas for which the CISA Site Coordinator on campus is responsible for.

Marsha Lunden, Education Specialist at DSFCU, visited Balsz’s forth through eighth grade students on October 20th to kick off the partnership. She presented information focused on saving money because one of the overall goals of the partnership is to have 20% of students and families save $50 in a DSFCU savings account. To make this happen, beginning November 2nd DSFCU will have a remote branch at Balsz which will make credit union services available to students and families during lunch times in the cafeteria. DSFCU understands that making banking convenient is a key factor to the successful accomplishment of the partnership goals.

This is an exciting new partnership, with new ideas and ways of improving student achievement. We look forward witnessing the positive changes this partnership will have on the students and families at Balsz Elementary School over the next three years.