BELLA VISTA, AR (April 28, 2025) |
It wasn’t just a new year starting when the calendar flipped to 2025 for the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County. A donation of $10,000 from United Federal Credit Union (United) at the end of 2024 meant a new start in teaching financial literacy to the Club’s kids at its Bella Vista location.
“Our Club members are learning more about financial literacy and are thriving in the knowledge they gain from the program,” said Rebecca Christie, Bella Vista Program Manager. “We would not be able to move forward with this program without community partners like United Federal Credit Union, who graciously invests in the future of the youth in our community. It takes a village, and we are proud and honored that they are a part of ours.”
The class started out as a pilot program in 2024. After seeing success with it, the Club wanted to move forward with expanding the class. With the funding from United, the Club was able to launch the program with Electus, tripling the number of participants in the program. As of April 2025, 13 Club kids were taking classes.
“As a former Club kid, I’ve asked myself ‘How can I help the Club in the way the Club helped me,’” said Kyle Hathaway, United’s Senior Relationship Development Manager. “The chance to answer that question came in late 2024 with a partnership between the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County, Electus, and United. The financial literacy program Electus is providing is one of the more intuitive and hands on learning experiences I’ve seen. From my personal experience, I know that as a club kid you aren’t always afforded many chances to get valuable life skills such as financial literacy. My personal hope is that this opens these kids’ eyes to what they can achieve with the right mindset and goals towards money.”
Geared toward 10-years-old and older, for every Life Hub Edu Jobs program class the Club kids complete they are paid between $1 to $5. They get real life experience of money management skills and learn to plan and save toward their spending goals.
“We’re not just teaching kids how to manage money—we’re redefining learning so kids can reimagine what’s possible,” said Anna Grace Du Noyer, Chief AI, Impact and Ethics Officer, Electus Education, creators of Life Hub app. “Through our partnership with United and Bella Vista Boys & Girls Club, we’re empowering the next generation with what we call Happy-Life Skills—delivered through our transformative learning system. With Life Hub kids don’t just learn about money—they earn it. That first payday onto their Life Hub Visa rewards card unlocks more than financial understanding. It sparks self-worth, ambition, and the belief that their future is theirs to shape.”
Life Hub Learners Classes meet every Monday for an hour. Participants login to their account and choose to complete Edu Jobs from a variety of topics they find most interesting. Some of the courses include financial education topics such as “What is a 401K” to “Tax Basics”. Students also can login to their Life Hub account during Tech Center rotations during the week.
“At United, we know when we invest in our children, we are investing in the future of our community and will continue to make Arkansas a great place to live,” said Stephanie Riffle, United Regional Vice President. “The credit union philosophy of ‘people helping people’ aligns perfectly with the work of the Boys & Girls Club. We are proud of our long-standing partnership with the Club, and having the opportunity to support its projects, including the partnership with Electus. When we take the time to invest in our youth, what we are really doing is investing in the future of Benton County.”
at the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County in December 2024