On Wednesday 16 September, Derbyshire Community Bank was delighted to return to Reach Community Grocery for another Mind Your Money workshop.
This time, we went along as a small team made up of a DCB board member, volunteer and staff member, bringing different experiences and perspectives to the conversations we had throughout the visit.
Reach has become somewhere we always enjoy visiting. It gives us the opportunity to get out into the community, meet people face-to-face and have open, everyday conversations about money, finances and life in general.
And often, those conversations are just as valuable as the workshop itself.
Financial wellbeing isn’t only about numbers on a spreadsheet.
It’s about the decisions people make every day – managing household costs, trying to put something aside, dealing with unexpected expenses and thinking about what might be around the corner.
Our Mind Your Money workshops give people an opportunity to talk about some of these subjects in a relaxed and approachable environment.
There doesn’t have to be a complicated financial question. Sometimes a conversation starts with saving or budgeting and naturally develops into a wider discussion about work, family, the cost of living or simply what’s happening in someone’s life.
Having a board member, volunteer and member of staff with us also meant we could spend more time speaking with people individually and hearing about their different experiences.
For us, that’s an important part of being a community-based credit union.
Our relationship with Reach Community Grocery has continued to grow since we first visited earlier this year.
During our first visit in April, we had the opportunity to meet the Reach community and start conversations around money, saving, budgeting and financial wellbeing.
Read about our first visit to Reach Community Grocery
When we returned later that month, we were able to continue those conversations and speak to even more people about the financial questions and challenges that matter to them.
Read about our second visit to Reach Community Grocery
Those visits showed us why getting out into the community matters. Everyone’s relationship with money is different, and having the opportunity to listen helps us better understand the challenges, experiences and questions people have.
We won’t have to wait long for our next visit.
We’ll be back at Reach Community Grocery tomorrow, Wednesday 23 September, for another Mind Your Money workshop.
We’re looking forward to continuing the conversations from last week, meeting more people and helping to make conversations around money feel more open and approachable.
A big thank you once again to everyone at Reach for continuing to welcome Derbyshire Community Bank.
These workshops aren’t about telling people what they should do with their money. They’re about creating opportunities to talk, ask questions, share experiences and learn from one another.
For us, being out in the community and having those real conversations is an important part of understanding how we can continue to support local people.
