As the school year comes to a close, Montecito Bank & Trust is celebrating 13 years of providing financial literacy classes to thousands of students across Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Each year, more than 40 bank associates spend more than 350 hours teaching more than 2,500 K-12 students, as part of the bank’s Financial Literacy Program. Collaboration with numerous local and national partners includes the American Bankers Association, the Audacious Foundation and United Way, in addition to multiple school districts and nonprofits throughout the Central Coast.
The nationally awarded curriculum covers foundational financial topics: establishing goals, determining needs vs. wants, budgeting and banking basics, the importance of saving, understanding credit basics and protecting your information.
In April and May, the ABA’s Teach Children to Save Day, the original catalyst for the bank’s extensive program, attracted 31 bank volunteers who taught more than 1,900 students from 21 schools.
“I love listening to them debate about budgets, what is a need or a want, or how to make informed financial decisions,” said Brianna Aguilar, the assistant vice president and events and community programs officer who has developed and managed the bank’s Financial Literacy Program during the past 10 years.
In addition to constantly refining the curriculum, she has added new components, such as the Head Start Savings program in collaboration with the Audacious Foundation. This real-life savings initiative for Title I schools encourages healthy financial habits and includes an option to open free MB&T savings accounts after four weeks of bank-led financial education classes.
The foundation provides students a $50 opening deposit, and the bank provides a one-time $25 savings for maintaining or growing their account balances for the first six months. More than 75 savings accounts have been opened in 2019, for a total of 287 accounts; 97 percent have earned the one-time match, and students have saved more than $30,000 since the program began, with an average account balance of more than $230.
“For some of the students we teach, the Head Start Savings is the first bank account that anyone in their family has ever had,” Aguilar said.
Michael Macioce, a sixth-grade teacher at Adelante Charter School, applauds the program, saying, “Combining challenging concepts with personal anecdotes, the students were engaging with some very important concepts. Personally, I was also really happy to see a high rate of family participation in opening accounts for their children.”
With emphatic support, bank Chairman/CEO Janet Garufis said, “One of the ways we believe we can best serve our community is through education, whether financial literacy, elder abuse awareness or cyber security. For financial literacy specifically, we know that the earlier and more frequently we can discuss money, savings and credit, the youth are more likely to be impacted and be prepared with the knowledge they need to make informed financial decisions in their futures.”
Montecito Bank & Trust is the oldest and largest locally owned community bank in the Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Founded in 1975, the bank celebrated its 44th anniversary on March 17 and operates 11 branch offices in Santa Barbara, Goleta, Solvang, Montecito, Carpinteria, Ventura, Camarillo and Westlake Village. Click here for more information.
— Megan Orloff is the executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Montecito Bank & Trust.