BBVA Compass declares financial education workshop pilot a success; plans full launch for 2019
BBVA Compass wraps up a four-month pilot program in December designed to provide financial education workshops through partnerships with local nonprofit organizations. Based on the success of the pilot program, the bank plans to execute a full program launch next year.
The pilot program, which began in late August, included 28 nonprofits organizations in 19 markets across the bank’s footprint. The total impact currently exceeds 2,600 participants, with more expected before the program concludes in the next week. Workshops were customized to focus on small business, personal finance and home ownership and led by local bank volunteers with expertise in each of the subject areas.
The BBVA Compass Foundation, the bank’s charitable-giving arm, selected 28 nonprofits in 19 markets across its footprint to participate in this financial education pilot program, designed to be a gateway for participants to increase their financial stability and ultimately access the mainstream financial system.
According to BBVA Compass Director of Corporate Responsibility and Reputation Reymundo Ocañas, the program underscores the bank’s purpose of bringing the age of opportunity to everyone by improving the lives and financial capabilities of the people in the communities served by the bank.
Ocañas: Our goal for 2019 is to...create opportunities for more people to improve their financial capabilities and achieve financial security.
“We have seen a strong positive response to this pilot which, for us, emphasizes the need to expand the depth and breadth of our reach,” Ocañas said. "Our goal for 2019 is to partner with more nonprofit organizations across our footprint to provide the financial education foundation that will help create opportunities for more people to improve their financial capabilities and achieve financial security.”
BBVA Compass Manager of Social Impact Tony Moraga and Texas Community Relations Executive Yolanda Davila guide a nonprofit participant through training material at a financial education summit held in August 2018. In collaboration with 28 nonprofits, BBVA Compass subject-matter experts led 220 workshops across the bank's footprint since the initiation of its financial education workshop pilot.
The BBVA Compass Foundation, the bank's charitable-giving arm, selected the nonprofits to receive grants and host financial education workshops led by BBVA Compass subject matter experts. These workshops are designed to help participants improve their understanding of the financial system in order to identify and seize opportunities to increase their financial stability. The grant recipients have a demonstrated ability to provide financial capability programming to low- and moderate-income families, to unbanked or underbanked populations, or to small businesses in underserved areas.
BBVA Compass will expand the program in 2019 to include up to 12 additional markets using similar selection criteria, and will pursue a goal of educating 10,000 low- to moderate-income adults throughout the whole of 2019.
BBVA Compass provided the workshop curricula, which it developed using its own subject-matter experts in partnership with leading education technology firm EverFi.
Ocañas: As experts in the field of financial matters, we believe we have an obligation to share our knowledge with the people in our communities.
“As experts in the field of financial matters, we believe we have an obligation to share our knowledge with the people in our communities,” said Ocañas. “We want to do whatever we can to help them make sound, responsible financial choices.”
For more information on the bank’s Center for Financial Education Workshops, please contact fined.us@bbva.com.