Financial Literacy Resources
Statistics regarding financial literacy are startling:
- Sixty-nine percent of graduating high school seniors surveyed thought they would have no liability if someone stole their credit card and ran up a $1,000 bill.
- Only 38 percent of those same high school seniors knew that if their income doubled from $12,000 to $24,000 taxes would at least double.
- The average college student who takes out student loans graduates with a debt burden of $20,000.
- Forty-three percent of adults at the lowest level of financial literacy live in poverty, compared to only 4 percent of those at the highest level of financial literacy.
There are numerous financial literacy programs that focus on youth. Credit unions that want to select a program to support ~ either financially or through volunteer efforts ~ can look over the following programs, which the Richard Myles Johnson Foundation has researched and recommends for credit unions.
USA Today Education
Through this program, participating schools receive 20 newspapers per day, each containing a sticker with the sponsoring credit union’s logo, along with a daily lesson plan to assist in presenting curriculum across the educational spectrum but related to that day’s news. The lesson plans are customized each day and cover information in all four sections of the newspaper: News, Money, Sports, and Life, and include activities that require the students to read the paper. Each activity also lists the applications (national standards) being covered in the execution of that activity. In addition, the program includes a special feature called “Financial Diet,” which provides in-depth articles and lessons related to personal budgeting, student loans, and other financial literacy topics. Each credit union that participates through the RMJ Foundation selects five schools within its field of membership or desired location. Each school may pick five classrooms, each to receive the newspaper delivery one day of the week, for a total of five-day-a-week delivery.
PBS/Junior Achievement Biz Kid$
Junior Achievement provides curriculum in many areas, including financial literacy, and matches its volunteers with schools wishing to have its curriculum taught in the classrooms. There are programs designed specifically for the various age groups: elementary, middle, and high school.
Once the Biz Kid$ television program is developed, curriculum based on the show will be developed and available for volunteers to bring into classrooms, as well. Anyone will be able to use the Biz Kid$ materials as they volunteer, however, only those credit unions making a financial contribution to Biz Kid$ will have the opportunity to co-brand the classroom materials that they bring into schools as volunteers.
National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE)
NEFE is a foundation dedicated to helping Americans gain financial literacy skills. The foundation particularly focuses on reaching the underserved. One of its programs is focused on youth financial literacy. Through the High School Financial Planning Program, teachers are provided with a six-unit program to provide teens with a greater understanding of and ability to manage their personal finances. The program uses games, simulations, case studies, and interactive exercises to provide hands-on experience for students to test and apply the financial principles and concepts being taught.
There is also a web-based resource directed at high school students, which they can access on their own, and provides information on understanding credit, budgeting, spending wisely, etc.
California Jump$tart Coalition
The ultimate goal of CA Jump$tart is to integrate personal finance into the K-12 math curriculum in California. The coalition serves as an awareness and networking group, bringing together other groups working to improve youth financial literacy. It also sponsors a Pre-Service Teachers program, aimed at college students training to become teachers. This program introduces personal finance concepts to teachers, encouraging them to teach financial literacy in their classrooms once employed.
ByDesign Financial Services “Financial Firsts”
ByDesign supports financial literacy through several programs including: budget and credit counseling; housing counseling; recovery program; identity theft counseling; and Financial Firsts. Financial Firsts, which won the 2006 RMJ Foundation Beacon Award, is geared to teens and young adults, guiding them through the first five critical financial decisions they encounter:
- Choosing and managing a checking account
- Creating a resume, interviewing and securing a job
- Shopping, purchasing and maintaining a car
- Managing a credit card account
- Independent living
Operation Hope
Operation HOPE is a non-profit organization founded subsequent to the civil unrest in Los Angeles in 1992. It is committed to the revitalization and long-term sustenance of underserved communities through increased access to financial capital, and credit and opportunities for home and business ownership. One of its programs, Banking on Our Future, is targeted to youth. Through this program, volunteers present financial literacy curriculum to classrooms. Operation HOPE has its own curriculum, but through its train-the-trainer program, will teach volunteers to incorporate their own curriculum into the program. The program consists of four one-hour modules, designed to be presented once a week for four weeks. There is also an online component to this program, which can be accessed by children in the classroom or at home, in after-school programs, etc.
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