OneUnited Bank's Financial Literacy for Youth Reaches Milestones, Partners with Operation Hope, Jump$tart Coalition and ALERTA

BOSTON, May 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- OneUnited Bank's promotion of "Financial Literacy for Youth" has reached several important milestones in 2011.  In February, OneUnited Bank President and Chief Operating Officer Teri Williams released her new children's book entitled I Got Bank! The book is the centerpiece of OneUnited Bank's new initiative to promote financial literacy for urban youth. The bank has already donated books to over 250 schools and libraries in thirty-four states, and continues to offer free books to libraries and schools through its web site www.oneunited.com/book.

In addition, OneUnited Bank has launched a partnership with the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy^® a coalition of organizations that work to advance financial literacy among students from pre-school through college (www.jumpstart.org). Recently Ms. Williams conducted financial literacy workshops at the Hurley and Hernandez schools in Boston with Jump$tart for Project ALERTA, an award winning youth program to improve the educational opportunities and achievement of Latino students in the Boston Public Schools (www.umb.edu/alerta).

The bank has also joined nationally recognized Operation HOPE in Boston and Los Angeles to present "Banking on Our Future" – a five-hour curriculum for schools and youth groups (www.bankingonourfuture.org). Bank managers delivered presentations at Madison Park High School and the Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Boston and Los Angeles respectively. In Los Angeles, OneUnited Bank and Operation Hope are combining I Got Bank! with the "Banking on Our Future" curriculum.

"We enjoy teaching financial literacy to area school groups," Ms. Williams stated. "The reactions – from principals, teachers and students – have been enthusiastic and reinforcing.  We are on the right track."

In conjunction with the release of the book, OneUnited Bank is sponsoring the I Got Bank! Essay Contest. To enter, children must write an essay about financial literacy (no purchase necessary). The bank will award three winners a $1,000 savings account in August 2011. I Got Bank! is published by The Beckham Publications Group, Inc. (www.beckhamhouse.com). The official rules for the essay contest, as well as information on how libraries and schools can receive a free book (supplies are limited) are available at www.oneunited.com/book.

OneUnited Bank

OneUnited Bank (www.oneunited.com), a Minority Depository Institution (MDI) and a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), is a five time recipient of the U.S. Department of Treasury's highest Bank Enterprise Award due to its community development lending. Its mission is to be the premier bank serving urban communities by promoting financial literacy and offering affordable financial services. OneUnited has grown through a combination of organic growth and by acquiring community banks that share its mission, including Boston Bank of Commerce in Boston, Massachusetts, Founders National Bank and Family Savings Bank in Los Angeles, California, and Peoples National Bank of Commerce in Miami, Florida.

SOURCE OneUnited Bank