HALIFAX (March 4, 2013) – Enactus Canada student teams from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Saint Mary’s University were named the 2013 Capital One Financial Education Challenge Regional Champions for identifying a need for financial literacy in their own communities and delivering projects to specifically address these gaps. These initiatives will help participants improve the quality of their lives by understanding how to budget money, save for the future and pay down debt. This challenge is delivered by national charitable organization Enactus Canada and proudly sponsored by Capital One Canada.
The Capital One Financial Education Challenge is a national competition empowering post-secondary students to develop and deliver projects that teach financial literacy skills. Since 2006, this challenge has engaged almost 4,000 students across the country, resulting in the delivery of 648 financial education outreach projects and directly impacting almost 78,000 Canadians.
Enactus student teams at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Saint Mary’s University have helped improve the lives of people in their community through the following projects:
Memorial University of Newfoundland‘s Change Matters project targets elementary school children in order to provide them with essential life skills at a young age. The current pilot program is running in three classrooms, impacting 59 kids. A year-end evaluation allows for program improvement and a potential province-wide roll out for the 2013-2014 academic year.
Saint Mary’s University’s OPtions: Overcoming Poverty project worked with 20 marginalized youth to overcome poverty by increasing their financial literacy. During the five month program, some participants were able to save money and pay down their debt while others were able to realize independent living. “You saved me,” said one participant about the program and the Enactus Saint Mary’s students that run it. “I would have been on the street if it wasn’t for you. “
”Capital One is dedicated to helping Canadians make wise financial choices, and we believe that education is the key to accomplishing that goal,” said Dion Yungblut, Vice-President of Operations, Capital One Canada. “I want to personally thank all of the participating teams for their dedication to empowering people in need to improve their lives.”
Student teams demonstrated the impact of their financial education-focused projects to panels of industry professionals on March 1st in Halifax as part of the Enactus Canada Regional Exposition – Atlantic Canada. The winning Enactus teams stood out to the judges because of their dedication to empowering people in need within their community.
“Through these projects, our student teams are enabling progress and impacting individual lives,” said Nicole Almond, Enactus Canada president. “As a national network we are building a better Canada and empowering people through financial literacy education.”
These teams will now move on to the national level of competition taking place May 6-8th at the 2013 Enactus Canada National Exposition in Toronto, Ontario.
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ABOUT ENACTUS CANADA: Enactus Canada is a community of student, academic and business leaders enabling progress through entrepreneurial action. Guided by academic advisors and business experts, more than 2,300 student leaders create and implement over 350 community empowerment projects and business ventures every year in communities coast to coast. As a global network of 39 countries, Enactus uses the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world. For more information, visit enactus.ca.
ABOUT CAPITAL ONE: With offices in Toronto and Montreal, Capital One has offered Canadian consumers a range of competitive MasterCard credit cards since 1996, and now includes the Aspire suite of rewards cards which are regularly cited by leading rewards experts for the great value they offer consumers. Capital One Canada is a division of Capital One Bank, a subsidiary of Capital One Financial Corporation of McLean, Virginia (NYSE: COF). Capital One is committed to investing in youth in our communities through program investment and the skills and dedication of our talented associates.
Media Inquiries: Jody Lundrigan Director of Communications Enactus Canada E: jody@enactus.ca P: 416.304.1566 x 222 M: 416.346.0131