The EARLY Project

The purpose of the Economic Awareness & Realism Lessons for Youth Project (The EARLY Project) is to prepare Club members for a life of personal financial responsibility with at least 80% of youth served demonstrating a statistically significant knowledge increase on the subject matter through completion of the Citi Financial Education Curriculum. In addition, all youth will participate in an annual Club project utilizing skills gained in the program such as budgeting, comparison shopping, planning, pricing and saving. At least 690 youth will be served (minimum of 30 youth @ 23 Club sites) with at least 70% of the youth qualifying for a free or reduced cost lunch. Parents of participating youth are included in the lessons and activities as available. Boys & Girls Club members’ parents typically are working or otherwise unavailable, hence the youth’s presence at the Club. However, some communities have great success in involving parents in the project, namely smaller, rural communities.

The EARLY Project will address the financial literacy needs of low-income youth in Texas Boys & Girls Clubs by administering the age appropriate Citi Financial Education Curriculum and requiring participation in a Boys & Girls Club project/event utilizing the skills obtained in class. This project/event may be an existing Club program, such as a Spring Talent Show and the participants run the concession stand, or the youth plan for “the trip of a lifetime” researching, budgeting and planning all logistics of this hypothetical trip to Washington DC, for example. Other possible Club projects include creating a Stock Club and using play money to invest in and track investments over a period of time, field trips to local banks, Federal Reserves, opening of personal savings accounts or managing a yard sale.

Each Club site will receive $2000 of Citi Foundation funding to put towards the EARLY Project. Total project cost is $10,000/per site; $8000 of which is offered in kind by the Club. Funds will be utilized for project staff costs. An additional $2000 is budgeted for an independent program and evaluation consultant. This consultant will evaluate the pre-post tests from Grades 6-8 and create/evaluate a pre-post test for Grades 3-5 (there currently is not one). It is anticipated that at least 80% of youth served will demonstrate statistically significant increase in knowledge gained. The evaluator will also assess the effectiveness of the Club project. Texas Alliance administrative cost is an additional $2000.

Twenty-three Boys & Girls Clubs will recruit a minimum of 30 youth, approximately 15 in Grades 3-5 and 15 in Grades 6-8, at least 70% will qualify for free/reduced lunch program. All youth will complete the age appropriate Citi Financial Education Curriculum and participate in the Club project in winter/spring 2010. For Grades 3-5, the curriculum offers four sections, about 4-5 sessions (8-10 hours) and the Grades 6-8 curriculum also offers four sections, about 4-6 sessions (8-12 hours). All sessions will be facilitated by Boys & Girls Club staff and Citi employee volunteers (where available; sessions are offered afterschool and before 6pm which makes it difficult for Citi employees to participate), over a three month period. Each Club will be required to contact a local Citi office and encourage their participation in some part of the EARLY Project.

According to Texas Education Agency (TEA), the State Board of Education and the agency have long been interested in strengthening the financial and economic literacy of Texas' students. From 1997 to 2003, ten bills were introduced into the Texas legislature to require a course in financial literacy for the state's students prior to graduation: none of them passed. In 2003, a concurrent legislative resolution instructed TEA to integrate financial literacy standards into the statewide curriculum (TEKS), and this was accomplished, but the state's students still score no higher on financial literacy and economic literacy than their peers in other states.

Results from the most recent national survey (2005) of What American Teens & Adults Know About Economics Prepared for The National Council on Economic Education (http://207.124.141.218/WhatAmericansKnowAboutEconomics_042605-3.pdf) underscore the need for the state's youngsters to have more knowledge of these topics, as well as students' understanding that such knowledge is important. Results suggest that most students reach high school very unaware of economic and financial literacy.

§ As in other states, virtually all Texas high school students (93%) believe it is
important for Americans to have a good understanding of economics.

§ Students who have been taught economics in school are more interested in economics
(61% vs. 40%).

§ Only 50% of high school students say they have ever been taught economics in school (either in a separate course or as part of another subject). Much of this instruction, when it does occur, is provided in 12th grade.

§ Three-quarters of 12th graders say they have been taught economics, compared to only 42% of those in grades 9 – 11.

§ Fewer than 20% of 9th graders had any economics instruction in elementary or middle school.

§ On average, Texas' students' average score on financial literacy was similar to that of students in other states, averaging 53 - FAILING

In addition, low-income youth and minority youth in Texas are more likely to drop out of school in or prior to ninth grade and during high school, further limiting their access to economics education, which usually occurs in the 12^th grade. In Texas, 50% of Hispanic youth drop out of school thereby negating their access to financial literacy education in Texas Public School. However, 90% of Boys & Girls Club participants graduate from high school (more than one half of Texas Boys & Girls Club youth are Hispanic). In combination with the financial literacy training they receive in elementary and middle school, Club participants have a significantly better chance of achieving financial literacy due to Citi Foundation’s track record of funding financial literacy education in Texas Boys & Girls Clubs for the past five years. More than 70% of youth served annually by the Citi Foundation grants attend public schools where more than 50% of students qualify for the free/reduced lunch program.

Specifically, through completion of the Citi Financial Education Curriculum and involvement in a Club Project utilizing the skills gained in the financial literacy curriculum, participating youth will be more able to make positive financial decisions early in life and to have positive effects on their younger siblings and adult family members, multiplying the project’s impact. Participating youth reside in distressed neighborhoods in Bexar, Travis, Harris, Ector, Tarrant, Collin and Taylor counties, where crime rates, drug activity and poverty are higher and the ability to legally acquire and manage personal wealth are lower than in higher income neighborhoods in these counties.