At Maps Credit Union, we understand that investing in education is one of the most important ways to build a thriving community. In fact, our focus on education is rooted in our 1935 start. Our proud history as a credit union began with an organization both by and for school employees. While the tools we use to empower those school employees (and now the rest of our members) have changed over the past 85 years, our commitment to lifelong learning has never faltered.
We Love Teachers. We Love Schools.
Since 1935, it has been our goal to connect and support the schools in our community. We do this by offering the teachers, students, and families in Marion and Polk Counties (and beyond) low-cost financial products and special programs designed to meet their specific needs. Want some examples?
Teacher Grants
Each year, the Maps Community Foundation provides grants (up to $1,000) to local teachers for innovative, impactful projects. These grants give educators an opportunity to bring ideas to life, provide new learning experiences, and meet needs that may fall outside their regular classroom budgets.
The application window for this year’s Teacher Grants is open October 1–31. If you’re a teacher with an idea for your classroom or students, we’d love to hear about it.
Past grants have funded everything from STEM kits and musical instruments to field trips, bilingual books, social-emotional learning materials, and physical education resources. The projects may look very different from one classroom to the next, but they share a common theme: the ideas come directly from educators who know what will make a difference for their students.
Student Scholarships
Education and career training can take many different paths, and the Maps Community Foundation provides scholarships to help local students pursue their dreams and navigate through life’s defining moments. In 2026, the Foundation awarded more than $60,000 in scholarships to 26 students pursuing education and training at universities, community colleges, and trade schools.
Scholarship recipients include graduating high school seniors as well as non-traditional students continuing their education later in life. Awards in 2026 ranged from $2,500 to $3,500, helping recipients offset some of the costs that come with pursuing their educational and career goals.
By helping with those costs, we hope to provide meaningful financial support today while investing in the opportunities students are building for their futures.
Applications for Maps scholarships open each spring. Visit our Scholarships page to learn more about available scholarships, eligibility requirements, and application dates.
Bite of Reality Program
The Bite of Reality Program was a new addition to the Maps roster in 2025, and we are excited to bring this fun, hands-on program to middle school and high school students across our communities. Through this interactive program, students learn to make realistic financial decisions as imagined adults. Each student is given a fictional occupation, salary, and family, as well as student loans, credit card debt, insurance payments, and other such obligations.
Throughout the event, participants visit various merchant tables to “purchase” food, housing, transportation, daycare, clothing, entertainment, and other necessities while they interact with persuasive “salespeople” who try to influence them to make decisions. In addition to everyday expenses, students may encounter the “Fickle Finger of Fate”, which brings them unexpected “expenses” or “windfalls”, just like in real life.
During the simulation, students learn the consequences of their decisions. They may fail or succeed, but either way, they have the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences with their peers. More importantly, they learn the value of problem-solving skills, persistence, creativity, and cooperative teamwork.
Maps High School Branches
For more than 30 years, the Maps High School Branch Program has given local students an opportunity to gain real-world work experience without leaving their school. Student tellers learn the day-to-day responsibilities of working at a credit union while building skills in customer service, communication, teamwork, and financial education.
These aren’t simulations or classroom exercises. Students help operate real, working credit union branches inside their schools. As student tellers, they also serve as financial educators for their peers, helping other students understand topics like budgeting and saving. In the process, they strengthen their own financial knowledge and communication skills.
Since the program began in 1995, Maps High School Branches have helped connect classroom learning with practical experience, giving students valuable skills to carry into college, careers, and whatever comes next. And the impact extends well beyond graduation. In fact, several current Maps employees got their start with the credit union as student tellers or interns.
Today, the program continues at the Titan Branch at West Salem High School, where students gain hands-on experience in financial services under the guidance of teachers and Maps employees.
Employee Volunteer Program
As part of this give-back program, we encourage staff to volunteer in their neighborhood schools and community by providing each of them with 24 hours of paid volunteer time annually. That totals nearly 10,000 paid volunteer hours allocated to the benefit of schools and community organizations each year.
Several Maps employees have chosen to volunteer their time giving back to the schools in their community either by volunteering with the schools directly or through charitable organizations like The United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley, Start Making A Reader Today (SMART), Family Building Blocks, and Habitat for Humanity.
Summer Saver Account for School Employees
For school employees who don’t receive regular paychecks during the summer months, planning ahead can make the transition a little easier. The Maps Summer Saver is a savings account designed specifically to help school employees set money aside throughout the year for summer expenses.
School employees can save anywhere from $1 to $2,000 per month through payroll deduction or direct deposit, building a dedicated summer fund a little at a time. There’s no penalty for early withdrawals if the money is needed sooner, and on July 1, the balance is automatically transferred to the member’s Maps Membership Savings account.
It’s one more way Maps supports the people who spend their school year supporting students.
Today, Tomorrow, and Always
As an organization, we are committed to serving the needs of our members, schools, and communities. After all, being a good community partner is one of our guiding principles. We share our time, energy, and resources to support education because we believe that is what community is all about. Our mission—Every Member Benefits—calls for us to be passionate about inspiring future generations. It calls us to serve our communities through volunteerism, charitable giving, sponsorships, scholarships, and more. We do this because we believe that strong schools are the foundation of strong communities.