Students at San Juan College and members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation are benefiting from financial literacy classes made possible through a $10,000 grant from the U.S. Eagle non profit, ARNIA Foundation.
The grant provided funding for a total of four one-hour classes with a capacity of 30 students at the Quality Center for Business.
Credit 101, Budgeting and Identity Theft were classes offered at no cost for students and community members after speaking with U.S. Eagle about what was needed in the community, said Jacinta Esquibel, director of Continuing Education at SJC.
“I think that this is very innovative, extremely innovative. We have a wonderfully supportive community,” said Gayle Dean, San Juan College Foundation Executive Director. “San Juan College stands at the heart of this community, and we are supported so generously by businesses and individuals throughout the state.”
The SJC Foundation has not done many financial literacy initiatives and the ARNIA Foundation has made it possible to bring that to students and the community, said Dean.
“Because if you end up with a degree and you have a job but if you haven’t had any guidance on how to take care of your money, how to get a mortgage, how to build up credit – you need help,” she said.
Rhonda Vicenti, director of Community Education Learning Center/Adult Education Program at the Jicarilla Apache Department of Education, said she has seen the impact with tribal members that have taken the financial literacy classes at SJC.
According to Vicenti, it was in 2024 when SJC started offering courses and services to the tribe with many needing the financial literacy classes offered in April.
Vicenti said she has been in support of education and the support it brings after graduating in 2024 from SJC with the support of the services offered.
“I literally worked from the ground up,” she said about getting hired for a position that she previously was not qualified for. “Through San Juan College and the guidance of my business classes I actually saw more of the need and the reason why education is important.”
It was that position Vicenti applied for that gave her the drive to return to school after being told she did not hold a degree to be qualified.
“I went back to school, started traveling back and forth, going part-time and that was a drive but if you need it, and you want it, you’ll do anything to get it,” she said.
Now her goal is to promote education in the Jicarilla nation to help the people become self sufficient, Vicenti said.
“I think San Juan College exemplifies innovation in the things that we’re doing at the Quality Center for Business and in our business incubation, realizing that people get out of school with a degree,” Dean said. “My husband got out of school 50 years ago as an attorney, and he knew a whole lot about the law and knew nothing about running a business because that had not been included in his curriculum.”
Another priority by the college that has been mentioned by businesses in Farmington are soft skills.
“There’s a huge need for training in that area,” said Laura Beer, Associate Director of Continuing Education. “I think COVID took a big toll on the way people communicate now. A lot of the younger generation use their phones for a lot of things, and so I think communication has become a barrier between the younger generation and some of the older generation.”
There are plans to continue offering the financial literacy classes in the summer and fall while the college remains open to suggestions about the needs of the community.