WESTconsin Credit Union is honored to be recognized for its financial education efforts through the Alphonse Desjardins Awards from the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). WESTconsin won first place in the Youth Financial Education and secod place in the Adult Financial Education award categories for credit unions with $1B+ in assets in the state of Wisconsin.

The Youth Financial Education Award was given to WESTconsin for its use of Banzai, an interactive financial education resource that uses online courses to teach basic and advanced financial concepts. In partnership with Banzai, WESTconsin has served over 600 teachers and educated over 55,000 students in 208 schools across 18 counties in Wisconsin and Minnesota. In the 2022-2023 school year alone, students spent over 10,000 hours in the program engaging in and learning financial concepts and life skills that often are not taught in the traditional classroom setting.

The credit union’s second-place win for the Adult Financial Education Award was in recognition of its four-week incentivized program to help familiarize employees with the benefits of Banzai. In four weeks, over 200 WESTconsin employees completed more than 500 interactive Banzai courses and read over 110 Banzai articles. This helped shift focus to their own personal finances, while helping them confidently refer Banzai to members.

“Winning the Alphonse Desjardins Awards is a testament to WESTconsin’s commitment to giving members the tools and resources they need to achieve financial wellness,” said Jennifer Rathke, Vice President – Member Advocacy. “Inspiring Better for our members and communities through comprehensive financial education remains at the core of our mission, and we are honored to be recognized for our efforts of promoting lifelong financial literacy.”

Each year, CUNA awards credit unions who make a difference for their members based on social responsibility, philosophy, and financial education. The Desjardins Adult and Youth Financial Education Award programs recognize leadership within the credit union movement on behalf of financial literacy for members and nonmembers of all ages.

WESTconsin Credit Union has been serving members since 1939, and membership is open to anyone who lives or works in the Wisconsin counties of Barron, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Rusk, St. Croix, Sawyer, Taylor, Trempealeau, and Washburn, or the Minnesota counties of Anoka, Chisago, Dakota, Goodhue, Hennepin, Isanti, Pine, Ramsey, Scott, Wabasha, and Washington, with a $5 minimum deposit in a Membership Savings Account. Credit unions are financial institutions owned by their accountholders, and member funds are federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) up to at least $250,000.

Submitted by WESTconsin Credit Union