BayPort Credit Union has been honored with a 2016 Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award and a 2016 Desjardin Adult Financial Education Award.

These awards, sponsored by The Virginia Credit Union League and the Credit Union National Association, recognize leadership within the credit union movement on behalf of the youth and adult financial literacy.

BayPort’s adult entry discussed the efforts of financial education within Jim’s Local Market, a community grocery store that opened in the spring. Belinda Aboagye, adult financial educator, scheduled numerous seminars and classes educating the staff as well as the shoppers on smart financial decisions.

The youth entry included information about the student-run credit unions located within high schools, middle schools and elementary school across Hampton Roads, as well as a Financial Reality Fair at York High School. The goal of this program is to help students learn how the “real world” finances work and how they can manage day-to-day financial challenges.

BayPort’s winning entries will advance to the national competition, where they will compete with financial education projects from credit unions in other states.

The award is named in honor of Alphonse Desjardin, the founder of the North American credit union movement, who established the first “caisse populaire” (people’s bank) in Quebec in 1900 and helped establish the first American credit union in New Hampshire in 1909.

Desjardins was an ardent believer in the value of teaching children to save, and he promoted the idea of in-school savings programs (caisses scolaires).