From Where I Sit
As we continue our march through Women’s History Month, I’m reminded that this month also has the designation as Social Work Awareness Month, also as National Credit Education Month.
Not wanting to ‘shortchange’ either of these additional important designations for the month of March, let me first tell you about Social Work Month. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Social Work Breaks Barriers.” The notion is to honor and show support for people in the profession of social work who might serve you, your family, your colleagues, and your community.
Social workers are skilled in accessing their clients’ or potential clients’ needs accurately and effectively. They understand their clients’ situations, their strengths, and the supportive networks that may help them through some type of illness, stress, or struggle. It has been said that “Life comes at you while you’re making other plans.” Sometimes, often in fact, these unplanned events are not happy occasions. It’s at those times when a social worker can be and is something of a guardian angel.
Should you have a social worker or a group of social workers who you might want to recognize this month, please consider visiting the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) website for a toolkit of ideas for an appropriate recognition of their good works. Their website address is socialworkers.org.
Late last year, I had the good fortune to be the featured speaker at the quarterly meeting of the Northwest Susquehanna Chapter of the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association. The room that morning was jam packed with dozens of leaders from various credit unions throughout our area. It seemed that everyone was wearing a polo shirt emblazed with their company’s logo. It had been some time since they all were able to be together due to COVID restrictions and everyone was sincerely happy to see and speak with one another.
My presentation that morning was to be focused on your Chamber’s strategic plan and a progress report on how we were doing with our many objectives. When I got to the point of discussing your Chamber’s effort to build and strengthen the ‘continuum of education’ and to encourage ‘lifelong learning’ in our valley the discussion really got lively. The need for credit education, particularly among high school and college students as well as young professionals, was a rallying cry for each person in that room.
With this as an introduction, please let me emphasize to you that March is National Credit Education Month. There could be no better time than right now to educate yourself and others on the importance of understanding the ins-and-outs of your credit score.
For example: Did you know that one in five Americans find errors on their credit reports and that more than 90% of home and auto insurers use credit ratings to decide who to cover and what premiums to charge?
This example is just one excellent reason why it’s valuable to know things such as how to build your credit score and to learn how student loans affect credit scores. Learning to actively monitor your credit score as well as educating yourself on how to properly manage it is of huge benefit for both yourself and for anyone who might depend on you for financial guidance.
Let me wrap up with an invitation to, if you haven’t already done so, click onto the video embedded at the top of this Elert. This short video is just a ‘teaser’ to the robust conversations which were part of the “Rise ‘n Shine…Education Matters!” session held earlier this week.
During this first Rise ‘n Shine for this year, we heard from three education experts: Dr. Mary Lou D’Allegro, Luzerne County Community College; Dr. Patrick Jones, PSU-Schuylkill; and Dr. John Kurelja, CSIU. The session was moderated by Malcolm Derk, who is the Chief of Staff at Susquehanna University and chair of our Governmental Affairs Committee.
Clearly, education matters. Education will continue to form the substructure upon which ‘our best days will lie just ahead.’
From Where I Sit
