Eastern Business Students Offering Financial Literacy Forums

WILLIMANTIC, CT — Business and finance students at Eastern Connecticut State University are set to present a series of financial literacy workshops in the community this spring.

The students are preparing in their own college course, "Financial Literacy and Our Community," taught by a Liberty Bank vice president.

The college course is designed to focus on the needs of the community and how financial education can strengthen individuals and the economy. The students will use what they learn to present at public workshops on home ownership, fraud protection and credit at the the Windham Senior Center, Windham High School and 1 Jillson Square.

The Eastern course is taught by Pamela Days-Luketich, vice president for community development at Liberty. Most of the students are finance majors. They had some basic knowledge before taking the course and "they've been very engaged and interested," she said.

Eastern's dean of education and professional studies, Niti Pandey, asked the bank to offer a credit course at Eastern after more than 50 students came to an interest session last year. The first half of the course, taught for the first time this semester, has scheduled speakers such as the United Way's Scott Umbel, State Rep. Anthony Nolan and James Bellano, director of economic development for Windham. Dante Galvez, affordable lending officer at Liberty, led a class on down payment and closing cost assistance and other state and city offers available to first-time home buyers.

The students will present what they learned at a series of community workshops:

• March 25, 1 p.m., Windham Senior Center, financial fraud prevention
• April 8, 1 p.m., Windham High School, "The importance of a college education for your financial future" (for the high school students only)
• April 12, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., 1 Jillson Square, parent empowerment class (in Spanish only) on home ownership
• April 29, 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., 1 Jillson Square, home buying class
• May 2, 9 a.m. to noon, Windham High School junior class, credit-for-life fair