TAPCO Credit Union Named a 2026 GoWest Community Impact Finalist

For many young people, money is something they hear adults discuss without always having the opportunity to understand how it shapes their own choices, goals, and futures. Financial education can begin to close that gap, especially when students are given more than information alone and have the opportunity to connect what they are learning to decisions and experiences in the world around them. 

TAPCO Credit Union has been named a 2026 GoWest Community Impact finalist for helping create an experience that moved financial learning beyond the classroom and into the Tacoma community. The recognition reflects not only what students learned, but also how they began applying those lessons as they explored the businesses and organizations around them.

We understand that conversations about finances can feel sensitive, complicated, or unfamiliar. Creating space for those conversations requires intention, curiosity, and trust. It also requires listening to what the community needs and remaining open to what a partnership can become. That approach helped turn an initial conversation with Biz Kidz and Hilltop Heritage Middle School into a three-month financial learning experience for 95 Tacoma students.

Each student received a copy of How to Turn $100 Into $1,000,000, a financial education book created by the team behind the Emmy Award-winning public television series Biz Kidz. TAPCO also provided each student with $100, giving them an opportunity to consider how the financial concepts in the book could apply to real decisions. Over the next three months, the students explored earning, saving, investing, risk, value, and long-term financial decision-making, building a foundation that extended beyond a single classroom presentation.

TAPCO then sponsored a field trip to Tacoma’s 6th Ave Business District, providing transportation and lunch so the students could carry those lessons into the community and connect them with real-world examples.

Throughout the field trip, students visited local businesses and organizations, including TAPCO, where they spoke directly with business owners and employees about what it takes to open, operate, and sustain a business. They asked why owners chose their particular type of business, what research went into selecting a location, how they identified their audience, and what factors influenced their hours of operation. They also learned how decisions related to staffing, inventory, pricing, expenses, and customer needs shape the daily operation of a business.

At a local comic book store, some students began connecting the process of buying and trading comics with what they had learned about stocks and investing. As they explored how condition, rarity, popularity, and demand can influence a comic’s value, they recognized that collectors must research an item, consider its current price, and weigh the possibility that its value could change. Those ideas felt familiar because the students had encountered similar concepts while learning about investment research, risk, and future value.

A collector might study a comic’s condition, history, and popularity before buying it, just as an investor might research a company before purchasing its stock. Neither decision comes with certainty, making research and thoughtful decision-making important parts of both processes. Seeing these ideas reflected in something familiar helped turn the lessons from the book into practical connections the students could understand.

The field trip captured the purpose of the broader experience. Students were not simply recalling financial terms they had read about. They were using that knowledge to ask more informed questions, interpret what they observed, and recognize how financial decisions influence businesses, careers, and everyday life.

The initiative stood out among 112 nominations representing innovative and meaningful work across the region, placing TAPCO among three finalists in the Community Impact category of the 2026 GoWest Awards. Finalists were selected by a 45-member panel of credit union peers.

Judges recognized how the experience moved students from an introduction to financial concepts toward practical application within the broader community.

“What stands out most here is how naturally this work grew out of real community engagement rather than being designed as a fixed program from the start. The emphasis on consistency, relationship-building, and repeated interaction clearly helps build trust over time, especially for students and families who don’t always have early access to financial education.”

2026 GoWest Awards judge

For TAPCO, the finalist recognition reinforces the importance of creating financial learning experiences through listening, trust, and collaboration. By giving students time to explore, ask questions, and apply what they learned, the partnership helped make financial concepts more tangible and connected to their everyday lives.

The recognition also carries meaning beyond this individual initiative. People begin their financial journeys from different places and with different experiences. Supporting those journeys requires more than providing information. It requires creating opportunities for people to build knowledge, ask questions, and connect financial concepts to the decisions in front of them.

That commitment is part of TAPCO’s vision for bringing greater humanity to financial services. Being people-centric, curious, inclusive, collaborative, and a trusted partner is not limited to what happens inside a branch. Those values are reflected in how we listen, participate in the community, and continue building relationships over time.

We are grateful to share this finalist recognition with BizKidz, Hilltop Heritage Middle School, Tacoma Public Schools, the participating 6th Ave businesses, the educators who supported the students throughout the experience, and everyone who helped bring the learning to life. Most importantly, we celebrate the curiosity of the 95 students who carried what they learned into the community and began making connections to their own financial futures.