Press Releases - Detail

FORT ATKINSON, WI– (April 2023) In 2004, the U.S. Congress designated April as National Financial Literacy Month, now known as National Financial Capability Month. Each April, organizations across the nation take part in this initiative to highlight the importance of financial education for all people of all ages.

The 2021 Survey of Household Economic and Decisionmaking (SHED), conducted by the Federal Reserve Board (released in May 2022), depicts a positive trend in overall financial well-being.

• Overall financial well-being is at its highest since the survey began in 2013
• Forty-eight percent of adults rated their local economy as “good” or “excellent”
• Sixty-eight percent of adults said they would cover a $400 emergency expense exclusively using cash (or its equivalent)

Despite this positive outlook, the fight for quality financial education and improved financial well-being has not slowed down— and that same prosperity is unfortunately not shared across different demographic and socioeconomic groups. The financial health across many demographic and socioeconomic groups is declining. "Our team is just getting started," said Whitney Townsend, Director of Business & Community Engagement at Fort Community Credit Union (FCCU). “I’ve had the pleasure of visiting more local classrooms than ever before, teaching students about topics like budgeting, credit, and more. Our team of financial coaches has also helped more people in 2023 than ever before.”

This National Financial Capability Month, FCCU is once again celebrating by sharing sound financial advice and resources with students, parents, educators, and community members.

People of all ages can find a wide variety of always-free financial education resources at fortcommunity.com including videos, articles, interactive activities and games, classroom materials, financial calculators, and more. FCCU also provides free, certified financial coaching in both English and Spanish.

“This upcoming year, we are hoping to provide even more fraud prevention resources,” said Dani Sherman, Digital Content Strategist at FCCU. “Scammers continue to innovate, but we do too. I truly hope that we can reach as many people as possible with our educational materials.”

FCCU’s financial education efforts received national and state recognition in 2021, receiving the prestigious Juntos Avanzamos, “Together We Advance”, designation from Inclusiv, a leading national financial inclusion advocate, and receiving the 2021 Governor’s Financial Literacy Award from Governor Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (WDFI).

FCCU has created fraud prevention placemats for local businesses and organizations to print and display to educate residents about gift card scams and check scams that are targeting the local area. These can be found at fortcommunity.com.