U.S. Eagle, ARNIA Foundation announce grants to support public school teachers

U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union, a New Mexico credit union with more than 95,000 members, announced Tuesday that it is accepting applications for the 2024 enrichEd Classroom Grant Program to benefit New Mexico’s public and charter schools.

U.S. Eagle’s ARNIA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, privately-held charitable foundation, will award a total of $20,000 in grants to educators throughout the state.

“U.S. Eagle is aware of the challenges many schools face in terms of funding, resources and innovation,” said Marsha Majors, president and CEO of U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union. “In many cases, teachers spend their own money in the classrooms trying to prevent students from falling behind. As leaders in our community, we feel compelled to step up and support them to create effective learning environments for our children. Our charitable foundation’s classroom grant program helps these schools to create effective classroom environments that excite and motivate them to learn.”

In 2022, Colinas del Norte Elementary in Rio Rancho was one of the grant recipients. Students at the school brought science and art together for a project, “A little bit of art, a dash of science and a sprinkle of social-emotional learning.” With the awarded grant funds, students got creative and constructed a robot.

The focus of this year’s enrichEd Classroom Grant Program is centered around developing financial literacy and financial wellness programs within the classroom.

“As a crucial life skill, financial wellness should be integrated into classrooms to help empower students to make informed decisions about their own financial well-being,” said Nadine Buerger, executive director of ARNIA Foundation. “In our sixth year, ARNIA Foundation is thrilled to continue to support New Mexico’s charter and public-school teachers with grant funding for educational resources and classroom activities. For example, the grant could be used for implementing financial literacy curriculums such as teaching students how to create a budget, build a savings account and manage unexpected expenses, organize living expenses and more. It could even be used to create a sustainable funding source for classroom activities that engage students in financial literacy exercises.”

This year the foundation will grant a total of $20,000 to local teachers and classrooms. Individual grants will range between $500 and $2,500, depending on the project.

Applications are being accepted between through Sept. 29.

“We encourage teachers to complete and submit an application for consideration. Our philanthropic committee will review and score each application based on availability, need, number of students served and geographic diversity. The recipients will be announced in October,” Buerger said.

To submit an application, visit USEagle.org/Enriched