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This Saturday I was thrilled to speak before hundreds of California teachers at the California Financial Literacy Conference for Educators, on the topic "Financial Literacy as the new Civil Rights" issue in America, and the first silver rights empowerment tool around the world.

I told the assembled speakers that what the U.S. and our world is now experiencing is far from a simple recession — it's a RESET.  That it is not merely a crisis of economics, but a crisis of virtues and values. That America "lost its storyline" somewhere along the way, and in so doing we made the by-product of our efforts (making money as an example), the "product."  The real product, I explained, are our "ideas." Operation HOPE, was my idea, as an example.'  I went on to break down the 20th century focus on "democracy," and how that led to the right to vote, and how the 21st century focus in the world around economics and money, will naturally lead to financial literacy becoming the new civil rights issue for a new generation.  Everyone in this new world, must understand what I call the basics of financial literacy empowerment, or "the language of money," in order to live in this world with respect and dignity.  

I ended my remarks by explaining that this crisis will not be race based, but class based.  "Whether you are white, black, brown or yellow in America today, you simply want some more 'green.' In this brave new world financial literacy empowerment equals freedom, for us all."

A special thank you to my Operation HOPE Los Angeles team leaders who staffed the event, namely Nicole Warner (pictured) and Kedisa Johnson (not pictured).

A special thank you to CalCPA, the CalCPA Institute, and the California Jump$tart Coalition, as well as conference sponsors such as the Charles Schwab Foundation, the California Teachers Association, KPMG, PwC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Grant Thornton and First Republic Bank.  Glad to say that PwC and First Republic Bank are Operation HOPE Partners.

 

About CalCPA Institute:

The 2011 California Financial Literacy Conference for Educators will gather together K-12 educators, California community colleges, nonprofits, businesses, community groups, financial professionals, government agencies and others to empower California's K-12 educators and community colleges to fight financial illiteracy by educating a new generation of Californians to manage their finances better than the generations that have gone before.

The conference will deliver the tools educators need to integrate personal finance education into their classrooms.

All programs featured at the conference will result in no fiscal expenses for educators or school districts.

Plus, educators will learn the skills to deliver personal finance education themselves or make connections with trained volunteers who can bring personal finance education to their classrooms.

 

 

 

 

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