NEWS June 6, 2024 Financial Literacy Activities Benefiting All Income Levels Now Eligible for Community Reinvestment Act Credit Banks will now receive CRA credit for expanded financial literacy programming that applies to all income levels. These changes remove the previous bank requirement of specifically focusing on just low and moderate income (LMI) beneficiaries. By adopting these new CRA rules more households will now benefit from financial literacy activities. The CFL’s Teach the Teacher programming has been eligible for CRA credit for many years, and with this newly expanded ruling, banks and financial institutions can now receive CRA credit for providing needed resources for teachers and students to implement one of our two innovative educator financial literacy trainings, the Financial Literacy Graduate Course for Educators and Financial Literacy Professional Development for Educators. CRA changes will: Greatly expand the types of financial literacy activities that banks can offer and obtain CRA Credit for. Allow banks to broadly offer financial literacy activities so long as they serve the needs of a bank’s entire community, including low- and moderate-income communities. Allow banks to obtain CRA credit for “teach the teacher” programs offered in their entire banking community that will impact students’ knowledge and skills of key financial literacy concepts better preparing them for today’s workforce. Give banks the ability to impact a larger student population through educator financial literacy training as each trained teacher will educate thousands of students over their career. Provide financial institutions new opportunities to utilize resources on financial literacy programs, activities, and training. Allow all income levels to be CRA eligible for financial literacy programs, previously applied to only low to moderate income communities. Simplify information gathering and tracking previously required to determine financial literacy program impact. This was particularly difficult for banks to obtain information from non-customers. If you are interested in learning more about CRA credit and the Center for Financial Literacy programs and funding opportunities contact us at CFL@Champlain.edu, or 802-865-6490.