Supporting Financial Literacy

Financial Wellness Partner Program

Our decades-long commitment to improving financial literacy continued, with 221 Financial Wellness classes delivered to approximately 2,760 participants across our footprint in 2022. This includes Next Gen version of Financial Wellness classes designed for high school students to help them build a foundation of financial literacy. We offer our program at no charge through employers, community groups, and schools. The program is flexible, so class content and timing fit each audience’s needs, including in-person and Zoom delivery. We offer six topics ranging from budgeting to using credit to protecting your identity, all led in an interactive style by Lake City Bank employees. Participants leave class with actionable knowledge they can use right away.

Junior Achievement

Across our footprint, Lake City Bank employees devote hundreds of hours each year to teaching young people about financial literacy, business and entrepreneurship with Junior Achievement. In 2022, over 1,000 children have participated in Junior Achievement classes led by Lake City Bank volunteers. Classes included Biz Town; JA Our Cities, Our Region, Our Nation, Ourselves, Our Families; Economics for Success; Finance Park; Personal Finance; Global Marketplace and It’s Our Future.

In 2022, Lake City Bank received The U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award – Bronze Level, a presidential recognition program created by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation for individuals of all ages who contribute a significant amount of time to volunteer service. In 2006, Junior Achievement became an official certifying organization for this award because of its national reach and standing. This status allows JA to bestow this honor to corporations with a U.S. presence that provide volunteers to teach JA programs anywhere in the world.

Reality Store

Since 2010, local students have experienced the economics of real life through our Reality Stores—brought to students from third grade through high school by Lake City Bank volunteers. We assign students a personal situation—married with two children, job as a nurse, income of $50,000, for example—and they select living choices and the expenditures that go along with them at different stations staffed by bank volunteers. For example, they have to choose renting or buying a home, for how much; what kind of car they will drive and if they can afford one; what they will spend on utilities; and even what will happen if they’re struck by a twist of fate, like a house fire or other calamity. Students learn how much it costs to run a household very quickly. Based on the family profile they’re assigned, they can see immediately how education affects income and lifestyle. Volunteers report seeing students’ “Aha” moments as they realize that choices made early on, like education, have a direct effect on how they can live. Schools appreciate Reality Stores too. The learning is experiential, and the Lake City Bank team provides everything needed for the turnkey event.

In 2022, we held Reality Stores at Leesburg Elementary, Claypool Elementary, Harrison Elementary, Rochester Middle, the Martin Luther King Jr Center (South Bend), and The Boys and Girls Club of Elkhart County