NAP- Neighborhood Alliance of Pawtucket

on 02-27-2009 00:56

John McCabe, rights, shakes hands with Joseph Cicione at Curtis Elementary School Thursday to signify the accord that will result in the opening of the Curtis Credit Union. McCabe is principal at Curtis. Cicione is president of the Alliance Blackstone Valley Federal Credit Union.  Times photo/Butch Adams 

By JON BAKER

PAWTUCKET  -  During the usual lunch hour shortly before winter vacation week, Curtis Memorial Elementary School Principal Jack McCabe strolled into the cafeteria and informed students in grades K-6 he had big news:

They soon would be able to deposit their own allowances (or "income") into a new school credit union.
Naturally, his "kids" flipped.
"It really blew their minds," McCabe smiled as he sat in his office Thursday. "I told them about what a wonderful opportunity it would be for them - say, for instance, if they forgot their milk or ice cream money, or wanted to purchase an event ticket, they could withdraw their money from their own individual bank account at school.
"The ultimate goal of this program is to educate a generation of students on the importance of saving, and also living within a budget," he added. "That's a critical lesson that needs to be learned in this society, especially given the economic events that have occurred over the past year."
The credit union will open at 8 a.m. Friday, March 6, in the Curtis lobby (near its own school store), and that's when the youngsters will be able to make deposits into (and later withdrawals from) their own savings accounts. By that time, the students already will have filled out parental permission slips to take part in the program, which will work in partnership with the Alliance Blackstone Valley Federal Credit Union, located on Central Avenue.
All deposits made at the Curtis Credit Union will be held on account at Alliance, and savings insured to at least $250,000, backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government through the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), said Alliance President/Chief Executive Officer Joseph Cicione III.
McCabe, who said "it's not a wild and crazy idea," said he has received full support and endorsement from Schools Superintendent Hans Dellith.
"The board, of which I'm not a member but report to, had been wanting to do this with students for a while now," Cicione stated. "I actually consider it a reinvention of the wheel. It's not a new concept. This kind of thing used to exist in schools many years ago, and we felt it was time to get back to it.
"In reality, what people are lacking nowadays is the ability to save and the appreciation of prudent budgeting. With this, youngsters will be able to plan, and it's only going to help them down the road.
"In state and national seminars and conferences I've attended, this notion was part of the subject matter," Cicione added. "It's all about how to grow credit union memberships while educating tomorrow's adults about becoming financially responsible."
According to McCabe, Alliance used to involve only Pawtucket school department employees and their families, but that changed a few years back when it opened to the public. When the board of directors (which McCabe belongs to) conducted a meeting back in October, officials mentioned the subject, conferred and selected Curtis as the city's first school site.
"I don't think I had anything to do with it," McCabe chuckled, "but I thought Curtis was a good decision because we're in the neighborhood, and also because we're a small school with a student population of 325. ... I've been a lifelong member of Alliance. I remember when I was at Tolman High - obviously many years ago - we had the opportunity to deposit money into our own individual accounts at school.
"I could use that money for prom tickets, a yearbook purchase, the senior class supper, et cetera," he continued. "Once I became 16, I used that account at Alliance to deposit my earnings as a lifeguard for the city. Pure and simple, it gave me the foundation and skills to properly use my money while I was still an undergraduate, and it's helped me to this day.
"These children are not, absolutely not, too young to understand this. Our math curriculum incorporates the use of money in various ways of counting, including the calendar, where the fifth of the month equates to a nickel, for instance. We also conduct a weekly data ‘Question of the Week' where a particular classroom is assigned to answer it, and they have to present its mathematical finding to the school.
"In addition, for years now, a number of our students - including our educationally diversified youths - have counted money for various charities outside the school, among them ‘A Wish Come True,' ‘Make A Wish,' the American Cancer Society and our recent ‘Jump Rope for Heart' program."
McCabe said he broached the idea of a "credit union for kids" with the Curtis Parent/Teacher Organization back in November, which immediately embraced it. He then informed his faculty, and discussed it further with Cicione and Liz DePina, an Alliance member service representative.
This Tuesday, they will conduct an informational presentation to the students, and on every other Friday following March 6, the kids may make deposits or withdrawals at their discretion to selected Alliance tellers.
"I'm psyched about this; I really am," Cicione said. "I envision in the next four or five years that our educational division of Alliance Blackstone Valley Credit Union will be in every school in Pawtucket. Eventually, I think we'll grow into that. When these kids leave Curtis and, say, move onto Goff, Jenks or Slater (junior highs), there accounts will move with them.
"I also believe that, as the students get older, and begin making informed financial decisions in their lives,
they would have had 10 to 12 years of all this credit union experience," he continued. "When it's time to buy a car or gain their first credit card, or even buy their first house, the foundation would have been set to make sound decisions."