Focus is on finances at Mansfield’s HarborOne U

On any given day, Mansfield’s HarborOne U is a hub of activity befitting a true community center, though this one focuses on financial education.
There’s a class room, a conference room and a business-information center with free workspace, Internet access and a resource library with a fax and copy machine, all free of charge, just like most of the classes offered at the community-outreach education center.
The U.S. Small Business Association uses the facility to teach some of its classes, as does the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center. When the space is available, nonprofits such as the Boy and Girl Scouts, and groups like the Women’s Business Network of southeastern Massachusetts use the conference room.
“Our motto here is ‘enriching lives through education’ and that’s what we are excited about,” said Maureen “Mo” Wilkinson, vice president and director of HarborOne U. “When people come here they learn something new and are able to apply it, maybe to get a new job or increase their business.”
The center was opened in June 2010 by Brockton-based HarborOne Credit Union and became an immediate presence in the community. On Jan. 27, the Tri-Town Chamber of Commerce, representing the Massachusetts communities of Foxborough, Norton and Mansfield, honored HarborOne U with its Good Neighbor award for its valued service to the area. Wilkinson happily accepted the award.
“They recognized us for opening our doors to a lot of community groups. They need a place to meet and might otherwise have to pay a fee,” she said. “We do a lot of focus on small businesses and the tools they need. We also do classes and seminars focused on personal enrichment. We have classes on career management and how to find a job. We also do a lot of financial education both for youths and adults,” she said. Classes can range from ages 2 to 22, with those from the younger crowd attending interactive, attention-grabbing lessons. “People come here and have a great experience,” she said.
To date they have held more than 170 classes and have served more than 2,600 students.
It is a unique facility. Teachers are professionals in their respective fields, and most are volunteers. They are not allowed to sell their company’s services to students. “We don’t even promote HarborOne products during our classes,” she said. “We give students the opportunity to learn some new skills and all it takes is investment of their own time. It makes them feel good about HarborOne and we find that over time people come back for other classes.” The premise is simple; if the credit union invests in the community, the community will invest in them.
Classes are offered for first-time home buyers, credit counseling and classes on retirement and estate planning, health and wellness seminars, searching for the right college, elder-care options and understanding Social Security and Medicare benefits. Some classes are technical in nature, such as their courses on WordPress or Quickbooks. In those cases a consultant is contracted to develop the course.
The center isn’t HarborOne Credit Union’s first venture in community involvement. In September 2007, they opened the MultiCultural Banking Center in Brockton, an educational facility dedicated to teaching low- and moderate-income residents, minorities and immigrants, most of whom spoke little or no English. Its goal was to boost the community, and with a motto of “promoting financial independence through education,” it did just that.
With classes such as citizenship preparation, English for those who speak other languages, foreclosure mitigation and financial education, the center was the first of its kind in the country. HarborOne Credit Union President and CEO James Blake was the motivation behind the multicultural center. Its success prompted him to open a second school. At their Mansfield branch the company already had a building available, a natural fit, and HarborOne U was born.
Wilkinson, 44, was given the task of getting the school up and running. She had been in the credit-union industry for 25 years, serving as the president and CEO of NationsHeritage Federal Credit Union when it merged with HarborOne in 2009.
She welcomed the challenge. “I was the CEO of a small company so I wore a lot of hats and worked a lot of hours. It’s not too different [here] except I don’t have the staff of a credit union.”
They sometimes take their show on the road, teaching about money to children in public school. “We’ve done it in Plainville and Mansfield, and at North Attleboro High School as well,” Wilkinson said.
One of the things that makes the center successful is the ability to keep classes fresh and relevant. Since its inception they have run a class on social media tools with the small-business development center. It’s one of their most popular classes.
It has just been updated to reflect the latest trends, such as Pinterest and QR codes. Those satisfied with utilizing the same websites over and over, they believe, will be left behind in the rapidly changing Internet world.
“There’s usually something going on all the time,” Wilkinson said. “We can put on anywhere from 12 to 20 classes per month. The only time it’s slow is in July when everyone is thinking about vacation, or around the holidays, from mid-December to mid-January. That’s the time we use for planning, to focus on the next hot topic.” •