Upward Together

Mercantile Bank developed a partnership with Grand Valley State University's (GVSU) TRIO Program to provide financial education and exposure to banking for students in the TRIO Upward Bound Program. The GVSU TRIO Upward Bound Program serves 100 low income high school students in grades 9-12 from under served communities. Ninety-five percent of the students in the program are Hispanic or Black. Many of the students in the program come from unbanked or underbanked households. The structure and objectives of the Upward Together program are as follows: •