Regions, CGI and GearUp Jefferson Co

In 2020, Regions Bank partnered with our IT and business consultant vendor, CGI, to provide a day of STEM Camp to 50-75 junior and senior girls participating in GearUp Birmingham, a local program that improves access, opportunities and outcomes for students from historically marginalized populations and underserved communities. A year of planning went into fine-tuning the details of the event, which also included Regions’ Financial Wellness experts delivering the Reality Check financial wellness curriculum, tailored for high school students. Then the pandemic jeopardized the entire program. The team started to reimagine a new format. Working with our vendor, we developed a virtual program that was presented in January, February and March of 2021. The silver lining was that we were able to serve far more students virtually — 214 students — at six Title 1 Birmingham City Schools, all of which were GearUp partners. The new virtual program consisted of a coding camp, financial education and a career panel. This was the first time our vendor partner had delivered the program virtually and was a complete success. Fast forward to December of 2022 and we were finally able to host an in-person training for students from seven area Jefferson County schools participating in GearUP Jefferson County. One of GearUp’s program goals is to provide STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — education opportunities to their students to better prepare them for these careers. Offering this programming helps promote inclusive prosperity and is one of Regions’ community engagement priorities. Pairing STEM camp with practical money basics helps to set these students up for success. https://doingmoretoday.com/stem-financial-education-success/