May_05_214May 16, 2005
New York TV One Newscast and Online Feature


Hundreds of students in Harlem will be learning their financial ABC’s in the coming weeks.

The Citigroup Foundation, in partnership with Operation Hope, is giving a four-week course in financial literacy to middle school students in Harlem.

More than 200 students at the Roberto Clemente School will take a course called "Banking On Our Future" taught by volunteer bankers. Kids will learn the basics of earning income, budgeting, and saving.

May_05_217“I don’t think their parents, or this community, teaches our kids the importance of financial freedom,” said guidance counselor Judith de la Rosa. “They don’t know that, and by the time they do know that, it’s a little too late – they’re in credit card debt and loan debt.”

“When you look at this country, it is the biggest capitalist country in the world,” said Operation Hope founder John Bryant. “It is a democracy rooted in capitalism, but no one is teaching our children life 101 skills. I mean, not rocket science, basics like checking, savings, credit, investment and the history of banking.”

In the last three years the "Banking On Our Future" program has reached nearly 500 students in Harlem. May_05_221

Article correction — Banking on Our Future, Harlem Initiative, a partnership with the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation, Ciitgroup, Carver Federal Savings Bank and others, has educated more than 5,000 youth in financial literacy over the past 3 years.

Bravo Mary Hagerty and Jennifer Riveiro of Operation HOPE!

Onward, with HOPE

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