2018 Applicant: Josh Franzen

Josh Franzen is a 32-year-old Senior Community and Business Development Representative at InTouch Credit Union ($841M) in Plano, Texas, United States.

Project Title
Combining Community Resources

Short Pitch
Credit Unions and local community colleges collaborate to combine resources for the community!

Synopsis
The plan for my project is to create a joint effort with community colleges to help promote education and financial education. 

Community colleges are similar to credit unions. They offer alternative solutions from the mainstream choices, and offer programs, degrees, and certifications at lower costs to members, which in this case would be students. 

After talking with my alma mater, Collin College, we decided to try a joint effort to promote utilizing local resources to further financial education: attending the local community college and utilizing the credit union as local resources to help achieve goals. 

The project involved multiple visits to the main campuses as well as a presence at a large fundraising event that would provide scholarship money towards the college. We also offered one on one sessions where students, faculty, etc. could sit with me to ask questions and go more in depth about their financial questions. 

The visits and the project were very successful, and Collin College is hoping to have us back in the fall semester and would like to have the credit union visit each semester to promote positive money habits as students enter this next phase in their lives through our seminars and one on one sessions. As this project continues, we have heard from additional colleges in our other markets that would also like to try this program. 

The point of the project is to help those who want to continue their education feel financial capable and confident. 

Online
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