Chelsea Groton Bank Brings Even More Financial Education Resources to the Community

Since its founding 165 years ago, Chelsea Groton Bank has been committed to helping customers and communities achieve their goals. One of the many ways Chelsea Groton does that, in addition to their caring and consultative approach, is by offering free learning opportunities to members of the community. There’s no better time to begin utilizing these services than in April, which is Financial Literacy Month.
 
Fifteen years ago, as part of the Bank’s 150th birthday gift to the community, Chelsea Groton launched a community education program. What began as a chance for one full-time educator to teach courses at area high schools has grown tremendously over the years. The Bank’s Community Education Officer has trained a team of “Chelsea Educators” who represent various branches and departments to assist in delivering financial literacy classes, and works with other experts in the community to deliver lifestyle programming in bank branches, community centers, and other non-profit organizations throughout Eastern CT and Westerly, RI, in an effort to empower individuals, families and businesses to make the financial decisions that are best for them. To date, over 1,600 classes have been delivered to over 35,000 individuals.
 
Last fall, the community education program was renamed Chelsea University. As part of the introduction of Chelsea University, Chelsea Groton launched a convenient, interactive e-learning platform for customers and members of the community to use at their convenience.
 
“Chelsea Groton Bank has always had a focus on education, for customers, employees, and the community. In 2004, we formally launched the Community Education program, and have had a full-time education officer on our team since,” explained Lori Dufficy, EVP, Director of Sales and Service at Chelsea Groton Bank. “As we continued to develop our community education offering, including everything from FDIC Money Smart classes, to lifestyle programs to internal training programs for our team, we felt it was the right time to take all of the individual programming under one strong umbrella. We are thrilled to continue to grow this program.”
 
The Chelsea University e-learning platform is powered by Enrich™, iGrad’s adaptive, personalized online financial literacy platform. Content topics include budgeting, cyber security, student loans, mortgages, starting a business, career development and more. Those interested in using this complimentary program are encouraged to register and build a profile. By doing so, users will be offered customized financial courses, instructional tutorials and how-tos, games, articles, calculators, and progress tracking to help them achieve their specific financial goals.
 
“While we hope to continue to have strong attendance at the classes we offer around the community, the Chelsea University e-learning platform offers those who aren’t able to make it to an in-person class an opportunity to access important information at their own pace,” explained Miria Toth, Assistant Secretary, Community Education Officer at Chelsea Groton Bank. “We look forward to many members of the community benefitting from this convenient resource in the future.”
 
In addition to the Bank’s ongoing commitment to education, Chelsea Groton team members volunteered over 9,200 hours, and the Bank and Foundation gave a total of $638,000 in charitable donations to the community in 2018.
 
To learn more about Chelsea University, register for upcoming in-person classes, or begin to take courses online, please visit www.chelseagroton.com/chelseauniversity. 

About Chelsea Groton Bank
Based in Groton, CT, Chelsea Groton Bank is a full-service mutually owned bank with over $1.1 billion in assets. Chelsea Groton Bank’s products and services include consumer banking, business banking, mortgage and business lending, cash management, financial planning and financial education classes. With 14 branch locations throughout New London County and a Loan Production Office in Hartford County, Chelsea Groton Bank also provides online and mobile banking, 24-hour telephone banking, and nationwide ATM banking for individuals, families and businesses. To learn more, please visit chelseagroton.com. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.