It’s Financial Literacy month, both in Minnesota and around the country. I’m not much for these month declarations (I’m sure if I had time I could come up with a laundry list of different causes claiming April as its own).

But to me, financial literacy is critical. And now that many are beginning to feel the pain of the debt to our eyeballs era, it’s even more clear how much our nation really needs to prioritize learning about money.

In my opinion, it should start in school and early on. I’m talking financial a-b-c’s alongside kids learning the alphabet. Yet few states require financial topics to be taught in school. Minnesota is not one of them.

Politicians and business leaders love to talk about financial literacy. But for all the lip service and the initiatives, not much seems to change from year to year. What does it take?

If you wish to get involved, here’s a list of happenings in the state courtesy of the Minnesota Jump$tart Coalition:

• April 10^th: the Minnesota Jump$tart Coalition’s “Focus on Financial Literacy” event, held from 3:30 to 6:30 PM at the Junior Achievement of Upper Midwest office in Maplewood. This event will include a keynote address by Federal Reserve Board Consumer Economist Jeanne Hogarth, teacher-training sessions and tours of the Junior Achievement facility. The event is free and open to the public, but participants are encouraged to pre-register.

• Junior Achievement (JA) will sponsor JA Business Challenge events at Thrivent Financial in Minneapolis on April 8th and at locations in St. Cloud and Mankato on April 10th. Throughout the month, K-12 students from several schools will participate in JA Finance Park and JA BizTown events at the Junior Achievement facility in Maplewood.

• In partnership with the Minnesota Jump$tart Coalition, Junior Achievement and BestPrep, members of the Minnesota Financial Planning Association will give classroom presentations in K-12 schools.

• The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis will host the Minnesota Council on Economic Education’s “Personal Finance Decathlon” state competition on April 23. Go to www.minneapolisfed.org/community/events for further information.

• Throughout Financial Literacy Month, BestPrep will be sending volunteers from banking, credit counseling, and financial planning organizations to speak in Minnesota classrooms through their Classroom Plus program. Many students will also be participating in BestPrep’s Stock Market Game throughout April. For more information on volunteering or to schedule a speaker visit www.bestprep.org

• St. Paul Public Schools’ Academy of Finance students will visit the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis on April 9. The Academy of Finance is a nationally recognized program that gives students from Arlington, Como Park, and Johnson High Schools the opportunity to learn about the financial services industry by taking industry-related courses and participating in paid internships at financial service corporations. While at the bank, students will take a tour; hear talks on money, banking, and personal finance; and learn about careers at the Fed.

• The Minnesota Council on Economic Education is sponsoring regional Economics Challenge competitions throughout the state; St. Cloud (April1), Duluth (April 2), St. Paul (April 4), Moorhead (April 7) and Mankato (April 11). Winners from these regional competitions will advance to the state Economics Challenge being held at the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus on April 16. For more information visit www.mcee.umn.edu.

• Members of the Minnesota Banker’s Association will participate in the national Teach Children to Save Day scheduled for April 29. Bankers will visit K-12 classrooms throughout the state to use games and activities to teach the concept of savings, budgeting and the differences between wants and needs. For more information visit www.minnbankers.com

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 3:19 pm and is filed under kids and money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.