Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Jump$tart Releases Summary of Annual Survey
The Jump$tart Coalition for Financial Literacy has just released this .PDF E-Book (255 pages) which analyzes the results of the 2008 National Jump$tart Coalition Survey of High School and College Students. Click here to check out this interesting summary and their findings!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Financial Literacy Resources from The OCC
I just received this update email from The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and thought it contained a lot of valuable financial literacy resources which I wanted to share:
Upcoming Events
May 13-15, 2009 (Annapolis, MD)
The Maryland Cooperative Extension, a statewide system within the University of Maryland, will host the 21st Annual Personal Finance Seminar for Professionals at the Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis, MD. The seminar is targeted toward counselors, educators, analysts, and other personal finance professionals. Expert speakers will discuss current issues and trends facing personal finance professionals and their clients.
May 13, 2009 (Houston, TX)
The Texas Department of Banking will provide hands-on training on three financial education curriculums: the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s “Building Wealth,” the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s “Money Smart Program,” and Junior Achievement.
May 14-15, 2009 (Indianapolis, IN)
The Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University will host a two-day conference, “Improving Financial Literacy and Reshaping Financial Behavior.” The conference focuses on factors shaping financial behavior and how individuals, educators, and policy makers can effectively improve financial literacy and its influence on financial decision making.
June 1-3, 2009 (Dallas, TX)
The Center for Financial Services Information’s 4th Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum will provide information from industry experts and on-the-ground case studies from across the globe, offering strategies and solutions to achieve profitable growth and long-term success. The forum also offers an exhibit hall focused on underbanked solutions and a variety of networking formats.
June 8-10, 2009 (Memphis, TN)
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, University of Missouri at St. Louis, and the Office of Economic Education and Business Research (Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville) will host a three-day event for classroom instructors. The event focuses on government’s role in the economy.
June 10, 2009 (Dallas, TX)
This conference titled, The Changing Economy: The New Community Development Lending Environment, is sponsored by Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas Mezzanine Fund, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This event will help identify ways to maintain community development lending with new resources, grants, credit enhancements and best practices.
June 14-16, 2009 (Brooklyn, NY)
The Corporation for Enterprise Development will host the 2009 National Conference on Children and Youth Savings to bring together innovators and leaders from the fields of asset building and child development to showcase youth savings programs.
June 17, 2009 (Washington, DC)
This global summit titled, Making a Business Case for Financial Literacy, Post Crisis, is featuring U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as the headline speaker. The goal of this summit is to promote viable long-term, systemic and sustainable solutions to economic problems. The Summit will frame the issue of financial literacy as an essential, core ingredient to mid-to-long-term economic recovery and stability.
June 17 and 18, 2009 (Nashville, TN)
The Nashville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta will sponsor the “Financial Literacy as Part of the Curriculum” workshop, designed for educators to learn more about financial literacy as part of a high school curriculum. The workshop addresses the new high school personal finance course and tactics for integrating personal finance instruction into existing courses.
July 20-24, 2009 (Boston, MA)
Junior Achievement Worldwide will hold its Worldwide Leadership Conference in Boston, MA, with the theme, “Connecting to Build a Better World.”
July 20-24, 2009 (Philadelphia, PA)
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will offer the “Making Sense of Money and Banking” five-day course for teachers in Philadelphia. The course covers money, banking, and the Federal Reserve System and will be taught by Federal Reserve economists, economic education specialists, and staff from the state centers on economic education.
August 19, 2009 (Dallas, TX)
The Texas Department of Banking will provide hands-on training on three financial education curriculums: the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s “Building Wealth,” the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s “Money Smart Program,” and Junior Achievement.
August 31–September 1, 2009 (San Antonio, TX)
The National Community Tax Coalition, a project of the Center for Economic Progress, will hold its 2009 Annual Conference. Themed “Realizing the Dream: Promoting Financial Opportunity in All Communities,” the two-day conference provides opportunities for training, learning, networking, and shaping the direction of community-based tax preparation, financial services, leadership development, and advocacy.
October 7-10, 2009 (Washington, DC)
The Council for Economic Education, National Association of Economic Educators, and Global Association of Teachers of Economics will hold it 2009 annual conference. The conference is largest national conference focusing on K-12 economic, personal finance, and entrepreneurship education.
October 21-23, 2009 (Philadelphia, PA)
The Institute for Financial Literacy will host the 2009 Annual Conference on Financial Education. The conference provides professional development opportunities for individuals working in the fields of financial literacy and education.
November 4, 2009 (Lubbock, TX)
The Texas Department of Banking will provide hands-on training on three financial education curriculums: the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s “Building Wealth,” the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s “Money Smart Program,” and Junior Achievement.
The Boys and Girls Club of America partnered with the Charles Schwab Foundation, to create Money Matters: Make It Count. This financial literacy program was designed specifically to help teens (ages 13 to18) expand their knowledge of money management and learn the skills that lead to financial independence and well-being.
The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, operates a financial security program which targets youth, financially vulnerable populations and consumers. The goal of the program is to enable individuals to make sound financial decisions that will help them acquire the knowledge, skills, and motivation to build financial security. Programs focus on behavioral change, starting with achieving financial self-sufficiency, then stability.
The Extension Financial Security for All Community of Practice (COP) hosts a series of informational chat sessions. People can ask questions and get answers from personal finance experts. The March Chat focused on Federal Income Tax Planning. The April Chat dealt with Banking and Unbanked. Records and transcripts are available online. These monthly chat sessions are scheduled through November 2009.
FICO, a provider of analytics, decision management technology and consumer credit empowerment, introduced the FICO® Mortgage Recovery Initiative (FICO® MRI) to help homeowners and lenders address the growing problem of mortgage foreclosures. FICO® MRI was developed in collaboration with leading mortgage industry partners to help lenders address immediate challenges with mortgage modifications while mitigating new delinquencies that are near on the horizon.
Junior Achievement, with sponsorship from Capital One, plans to build the region’s first Finance Park facility, scheduled to open in Fairfax County, VA, in January 2010. The Finance Park, a 20,000 sq. ft. facility with state-of-the art technologies, is designed to provide hands-on solutions on personal financial management topics for over 13,000 young people a year.
Junior Achievement, with the support of The Allstate Foundation, conducted its tenth annual “Teens and Personal Finance” poll in late February. The survey assesses how the current economic climate has impacted the spending and saving habits of American teens. For more information about Junior Achievement’s financial literacy programs, visit www.ja.org/programs.
Over the past few months, Junior Achievement delivered two comprehensive white papers (“Understanding the Stock Market Fluctuations” and “Understanding the Financial Crisis”) to every school system in the Greater Washington State Region. The papers are available online and Junior Achievement plans to publish additional papers on financial topics quarterly.
The MetLife Study of the American Dream set out to determine American attitudes and perceptions in light of the current economic situation and the ongoing erosion of traditional corporate and social safety nets. The study surveyed a cross-section of U.S. adults, in all generations and ethnic groups, to find out how their lives have changed—and how the American dream itself has changed—in the past year. Read the results on its Web site.
The National Consumer League runs LifeSmarts, a national consumer education competition program for middle and high school students, which develops and rewards teens for their marketplace financial knowledge. Teams of four to five teens, coached by an adult participant, compete in district and state matches with state winners going to the national competition to vie for the national LifeSmarts title. For more information, call (202) 835-3323 or e-mail the National Consumer League.
The Wisconsin Jump$tart Coalition partnered with professional educators to create the National Institute of Financial and Economic Literacy, which provides teachers with tools and training to educate local youth. For more information on what this new organization can do for schools, call (608) 267-1713 or e-mail Teresa Walker.
The West Virginia State Auditor’s Office is offering Money Matters, a free seminar on investor education and financial literacy for classroom or group presentations. The program includes the “Stock Market Game,” in which attendees become participants in an active stock exchange. Since its inception, Money Matters has been presented to over 8,000 students and 2,000 teachers. For more information, e-mail James Rutledge, Outreach Manager.
The American Bankers Association Education Foundation launched teachchildrentosave.com, making the Teach Children to Save program -- historically only delivered through classroom lessons -- available to the public via the Web. The Web site offers tips for young people and their parents on how to set a budget, start a savings account, and make deposits regularly. Also, there is the “Saver’s Pledge” that youth can take as they vow to become lifelong savers.
The 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy program provides a comprehensive approach for consumers of all stages of life to making informed financial decisions. The program combines grassroots, state-driven financial literacy models with free resources for the public and tools that certified public accountants can use at the local level when volunteering to educate others.
Consolidated Credit Counseling Services partners with businesses and organizations to bring “Financial Responsibility in the Workplace” programs into communities. The staff provides financial education to individuals and employers, free seminars, financial literature libraries, and Web-based financial tools for employees and their families.
The Council for Economic Education advocates for better and greater school-based economic and personal finance education at the K-12 level. Its goal is to empower young people in the United States and around the world, primarily through well-prepared teachers, with economic and financial literacy.
The Federal Trade Commission recently launched its “Money Matters” Web site, which offers short, practical tips, videos, and links to reliable resources and information on such topics as credit repair, debt collection, job-hunting and job scams, vehicle repossession, managing mortgage payments, and foreclosure rescue scams.
The Journal of Extension, the official refereed journal of the Cooperative Extension System, has a new Web site. The Journal of Extension expands and updates the research and knowledge base for extension professionals and other adult educators to improve their effectiveness.
The Jump$tart Clearinghouse provides an easy-to-use, free online database of personal finance materials designed for teaching and learning. The clearinghouse includes CDs, DVDs, interactive online programs, lesson plans, teaching guides, textbooks, informational brochures, simulation games, and posters.
The Money Mammals are characters created specifically to teach kids the value of money. The Web site offers educational videos and games for children as well as the opportunity to join the “Saving Money Is Fun” kids club.
Nuestro Barrio is a Spanish-language miniseries about Hispanic life in the United States. The miniseries uses the telenovela, or soap opera, to engage and entertain consumers on various issues, including banking and homeownership. The TV show is one of the largest financial literacy efforts in the country, broadcasting to over 25 million households and distributing more than 60,000 DVDs. Nuestro Barrio is a collaboration between the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina and Café con Leche Production.
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) released a free, consumer video, “Avoiding Foreclosure,” that introduces four clients who found themselves in mortgage trouble for different reasons and sought assistance from an NFCC-certified housing counselor. The video introduces consumers to some of the terms and scenarios they are likely to encounter as they work to save their own homes; familiarizes consumers with the process for avoiding foreclosure; and shows real-life examples and how they worked through their challenges with the help of an NFCC-certified housing counselor.
NFCC redesigned its Web site, www.DebtAdvice.org, which allows consumers to access numerous financial education tools and reach an NFCC-certified credit counselor closest to them.
The National Endowment for Financial Education, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to helping people make sound financial decisions throughout life, has redesigned its Web site. The Web site provides relevant content, interactive tools and quizzes, an e-newsletter, and forums to help people understand and manage money.
The OCC released the April 2009 issue of Community Developments Investments, Cultivating Community-based Financial Literacy Initiatives. The newsletter highlights roles that banks can play in promoting financial stability through local partnership efforts. Articles describe four programs that help banks and their community partners reach out to consumers to encourage better money management through savings and checking products.
OCC Community Developments Insights School-Based Bank Savings Programs: Bringing Financial Education to Students, discusses how banks can set up school-based bank savings programs to help students learn about the importance of saving and managing their personal finances. Students receive “hands-on” learning, while banks gain visibility in the communities they serve.
OCC Consumer Advisory, Protect Your Family from Foreclosure Prevention Scams” (April 2009), provides information about scams promising to "rescue" consumers from foreclosure. These scams are popping up at an alarming rate nationwide. The advisory addresses how homeowners can protect themselves and their homes. The advisory also provides tips on how to differentiate between scams and legitimate resources.
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