8 Hoosier Banker April 2016 COVER STORY April is Financial Literacy Month, shining a spotlight on efforts by bankers and community advocates nationwide to elevate the financial literacy of consumers. Examples of related events are Indiana Money Smart Week, created by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which takes place April 23-30; and Teach Children to Save Day, sponsored by the American Bankers Association Community Engagement Foundation, scheduled for April 29. Additionally, the Independent Community Bankers of America designates April as Community Banking Month. Each April, Hoosier Banker pays homage to Financial Literacy Month by focusing on one aspect of consumer education outreach. The magazine reported on member banks’ involvement with Junior Achievement in 2015, and on in-school bank branches the year prior. This year Hoosier Banker proudly draws attention to the concept of a bank “junior board of directors” (JBOD), an innovative financial literacy program for youth that has been adopted by a few banks nationwide. Designed as a dual benefit effort, establishing a junior board helps area youth develop business leadership skills; setting up a junior board also gives banks access to some of the best and brightest potential future employees. Typically junior boards are made up of area high school juniors and seniors who are interested in pursuing business careers and who demonstrate outstanding records in academics and community service. Banks work closely with area schools to identify student candidates and may confer with school business departments to set up programming for junior board meetings. Most junior boards meet monthly during the school year. Meetings may focus on educating board members about business or banking topics, frequently with guest speakers from various professions making presentations to the students, or may involve community outreach projects. Deep community engagement can help motivate students to return to their hometowns after earning their college degrees. In Indiana, two member banks of the Indiana Bankers Association have reported that they have junior boards of directors in place. One bank implemented its board recently, and the other has been operating a junior board of directors for several years. Crossroads Bank,Wabash Indiana’s first junior board of directors was formed by Crossroads Bank in 2009. The board consists of two juniors and two seniors from each of the four Wabash County schools. Each junior director’s term is for two years. To recruit board members, applications are sent to the participating schools, where counselors select four top applicants from each school. A selection group from the bank then reviews the applications, without seeing the names of the students, to make final selections. Criteria are academic excellence, extracurricular involvement and overall leadership skills. Bank Junior Boards of Directors: Financial Literacy Opportunity Roger Cromer (left) president of Crossroads Bank,Wabash, is pictured with the bank’s 2015-16 junior board of directors. In 2012, several members of the Crossroads Bank junior board of directors participated in a project benefiting the March of Dimes.
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