BOOF kid WASHINGTON, April 3 – Today the American Bankers Association Education Foundation, Operation HOPE, and financial service volunteers kicked off Financial Literacy Month and the 2009 Teach Children to Save program by sharing personal finance lessons with more than 1,400 students at Woodrow Wilson High School.

 “We’re thrilled to kick off Financial Literacy Month with the students of Woodrow Wilson High School and Operation HOPE,” explained Laura Fisher, director of the ABA Education Foundation, which sponsors Teach Children to Save. “Many students graduate knowing more about ancient Egypt than balancing a checkbook, which is scary in today’s economy. Financial education is critical for our personal and national prosperity.”

Operation HOPE’s Banking on Our Future curriculum was used by the bankers to teach student the basics of banking, checking and savings accounts, credit and basic investments.

This lesson and many more occurring across the country are part of the foundation’s Teach Children to Save Million Child Challenge, a call for bankers to give Teach Children to Save lessons to 1 million students in 2009. So far, more than 7,000 bankers have accepted the challenge.

“Our bankers and Operation HOPE volunteers are building a financially sound tomorrow by providing financial education today,” Fisher added. 

The ABA Education Foundation provides financial education programs and resources that help bankers make their communities better. Nearly 72,000 bankers have taught basic finance skills to almost 3.3 million young people through participation in the Foundation’s signature programs, Teach Children to Save and Get Smart About Credit. Founded by bankers in 1925, the foundation is guided by a board of bankers and is an affiliate of the American Bankers Association.  For more information, visit www.abaef.com or call 1-800-BANKERS.

Operation HOPE is America's leading nonprofit social investment banking and financial literacy empowerment organization. With more than 400 private sector partners, 1500 nonprofit organizations and schools, and 100 government partners in 68 major U.S. cities as well as South Africa, Operation Hope has raised more than $400 million in it’s pursuit of educating, assisting and inspiring the next generation of global stakeholders. Through international initiatives and its three principal programs: Banking on Our Future (teaching school children about money), HOPE Coalition America (financial emergency preparedness and disaster relief), and Walk-In HOPE Centers (loans, bill pay, computer literacy, understanding banking principles) Operation HOPE has assumed the responsibility of piloting the “silver rights” movement towards making free enterprise and capitalism relevant to all underserved communities. To find out more about the organization visit www.operationhope.org or visit our blog at www.operationhope.org/blog/

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