CooPACA to incentivize savings among high school students in Cataño
The Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito de Arecibo (CooPACA) announced a new collaborative agreement with the municipality of Cataño that will grant an economic incentive to high school students to stimulate personal savings and a culture of supporting credit unions.
“This initiative is intended to contribute to an improved financial education for the younger generations that permits them to manage their economic resources effectively. We also want them to see the cooperative model as the future of the financial industry so that through it they are able to save sustainably and achieve credit during their college years,” said CooPACA Executive President William Méndez-Pagán.
For his part, Cataño Mayor Félix Delgado stressed the importance of promoting savings and financial responsibility among high school students.
“Our vision is that Cataño’s high school seniors receive an economic stimulus that contributes to set the necessary foundation for a new phase of their lives, filled with challenges, goals and responsibilities,” Delgado said.
“This effort also aims to create an awareness of the importance of saving and of supporting credit unions as a successful entrepreneurial economic model for the island,” said the mayor.
As a result of the new agreement, CooPACA and the municipality of Cataño will jointly provide a savings account to every bona fide high school senior at the Francisco Oller, Colegio Génesis de Esperanza and Christian Mercy Academy schools. Each account will have a beginning balance of $50.
To open the new accounts, students must comply with various requirements, which include opening a stock account (making them members of the credit union), completing the required documents and visiting the branch to finish the process. If the student is younger than 18 years old, they must be accompanied by a parent or legal tutor. Students that qualify for the incentive will receive it once a year.
CooPACA will conduct a series of educational forums for qualifying students at schools during the entire academic year. The collaborative agreement between CooPACA and the municipality of Cataño will remain in place indefinitely.
