Money Smart Kid essay new part of local Money Smart Week

Students in grades 6 through 8 are encouraged to enter the first annual Money Smart Kid DeKalb County essay contest and compete for the chance to win $600 to help boost their college savings. The tri-county wide essay contest is sponsored by the Illinois Community Credit Union (ICCU). Kim Morris, ICCU DeKalb Branch Manger says “Illinois Community Credit union is devoted to promoting the importance of financial literacy within the communities we serve, and to teach young adults the concepts of how to save and spend money wisely.”

Eligible students in DeKalb, LaSalle & Lee counties can enter the contest by writing an essay of 300 words or less, answering the following:

Your family faces a medical emergency. Due to this situation, your parent/guardian cannot work temporarily. Your family does not have much savings and will need to find ways to adjust spending.

Given these changed circumstances: 1. How could your family adjust spending? 2. What action might you take to assist your family in this situation? 3. How can your family better prepare in the future for unexpected emergencies that have major financial impact?

In addition to writing the essay, students must be recommended by a teacher or guardian and be able to demonstrate how they practice good money management.

Essays are due by March 31st, 2016. Click here for application. The essay and application should be mailed, faxed or emailed as a PDF or scanned attachment to: Money Smart Kid Essay, Illinois Community Credit Union, 508 W. State Street, Sycamore, IL 60178 Fax: 815.895.9925 Email: Lordhits.McNamara@ilcomcu.org. The student with the winning essay will be selected as the Money Smart Kid DeKalb County for 2016 and receive $600 scholarship while two runner-ups will receive $200 scholarships. Scholarships have been generously provided by Illinois Community Credit Union. The three finalists will be videotaped reading their winning essays. The videos will be presented at the Money Smart Week DeKalb County Kick-Off Celebration on April 22, 2016.

“The Money Smart Kid essay contest has been a fun and exciting way to engage students with a wide variety of money concepts and challenges them to critically think about solving real life money issues,” says Alejo Torres, Senior Outreach Manager, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. “All past winners have been outstanding and very impressive young men and women and we fully anticipate meeting yet another future money expert with this year’s contest.”

Money Smart Week DeKalb County is April 23 – 30, 2016. For a full calendar of free financial eduaction events, visit www.moneysmartweek.niu.edu.

About Money Smart Week DeKalb County: www.moneysmartweek.niu.edu is a local Money Smart Week campaign serving DeKalb, LaSalle and Lee counties. Created by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in 2002, Money Smart Week® www.moneysmartweek.org is a public awareness campaign designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances. This is achieved through the collaboration and coordinated effort of hundreds of organizations across the country. Programming is offered to all demographics and income levels and covers all facets of personal finance. Partnering Organizations will host their events April 23 – 30, 2016.