ALABAMA
SECURITIES COMMISSION
770 WASHINGTON AVE, SUITE 570
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36130-4700
Telephone: (334) 242-2984 or 1-800-222-1253. Fax: (334)
242-0240
Email: asc@asc.state.al.us. Website:
www.asc.state.al.us
The Jump$tart Coalition and Other Non-Profit Agencies Receive
Grants to Promote Personal Finance Education in Alabama
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA (January 28, 2004) - Joseph P. Borg, the
Director of the Alabama Securities Commission, presented four educational
grants totaling $15,000 to be used for
the promotion of personal finance education throughout the state of
Alabama.
The presentations were made at the Junior Achievement of
Greater Birmingham, Inc. today to the new Alabama Jump$tart Commission, the
Alabama Council on Economic Education, the Alabama Cooperative Extension and
the Alabama LifeSmarts program. Borg
said, “The Commission is absolutely delighted to make these presentations of
funds on behalf of the Investor Protection Trust1 to promote
personal finance and investor education to a wide variety of citizens including
youth, seniors and minority groups throughout the state of Alabama. As our nation is facing a financial literacy
crisis, these monies which come from endowments, fines, and other sources will
be used to buy materials and training which will reach Alabamians in the near
future.”
Jump$tart
Pilot Initiative:
On behalf of the Alabama Jump$tart Coalition, board president, Ms.
Buffy Murphy, BancorpSouth,
accepted a $5,000 check for a Birmingham Financial Literacy Pilot Project. Other
board members of the new Jump$tart program are: Mrs. Paggie McSpadden, Alabama
Dept of Education: Mrs. Jennifer Hagood, Alabama State Banking
Department; Mr. John Stone, Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce; Mr.
Michael Milner, Federal Reserve Bank; Mr. John Olsen, Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation; Mr. Dan Bailey, Alabama Bankers Association; Mr. Daniel G. Lord,
Alabama Securities Commission; Mr. Rick Murray; Junior Achievement of Central
Alabama; Dr. Tom Raines, National Council for Economic Education; Mr. Don
Boomershine; Better Business Bureau of Central Alabama.
This grant will support an Alabama Jump$tart pilot
initiative to incorporate personal financial education into the required high
school senior economics courses in the Birmingham area. Jump$tart will
actively recruit middle and upper management professionals in business and
government positions to voluntarily teach these students. There are
80 potential schools in Birmingham that will have the opportunity to
participate in this project. Businesses in the Birmingham area will be
solicited to raise an additional $10,000 to continue the program. A
pre-test/post-test is currently being administered to participating schools to
measure the programs effectiveness. The Alabama Department of Education is
a member of the Alabama Jump$tart Coalition and has been very supportive in
providing guidance for this program and to ensure it fits into approved course
objectives and guidelines, plus they are helping with plans
to implement this pilot statewide in
2004/2005. In addition, schools throughout Alabama are
joining with the National Jumpstart Coalition to participate in a nationwide
financial literacy test that is being administered to measure student’s financial
literacy skills.
Black Belt Personal Finance Initiative:
A $5,000 check was presented to Dr. Thomas N. Rains, President of the
Alabama Council on Economic Education, who is also a board member for the
Alabama Jump$tart Coalition. He has set up a program for 10 counties west
of Montgomery designated as the Black belt. His program provides
continuing personal finance education to high school teachers, and free
Financial Education teaching materials in CD formats, Teacher's Guides, and
student workbooks (materials for each person are valued at over $100.)
Dr. Rains has also received funds from other commercial agencies to fund events
in Perry and Dallas Counties. His goal is to acquire funding to conduct
one and possibly two events in each county per year: Pickens, Green,
Sumter, Marengo, Choctaw, Hale, Perry, Dallas, Wilcox, and Lowndes. For
more information on the Alabama Council on Economic Education go to http://www.economicsouth.org .
A presentation of two checks for $2,500 each was made to Dr. Bernice
Wilson, Extension Resource Management Specialist, of the Alabama Cooperative
Extension in support of two programs. Also,
Dr. Jannie Carter, Extension Assistant Director, attended in support of this
special event.
LifeSmarts Program:
Dr.
Wilson is the State Coordinator of the LifeSmarts program in Alabama.
LifeSmarts is an educational opportunity that develops the consumer and
marketplace knowledge and skills of teenagers in a fun way and rewards them for
this knowledge. The program complements the curriculum already in place in high
schools and can be used as an activity for classes, groups, clubs, and community
organizations. LifeSmarts, run as a game-show style competition, is open to all
teens in the US in the 9th through 12th grades. Teams of four to five teens
compete in district and state matches with the state winners going to the
regional and national competition to vie for the national LifeSmarts title.
LifeSmarts is a program of the National Consumers League.
Any
high school can develop a team and compete with other high schools in Alabama.
First round competition is conducted via the Internet. Qualifying teams,
estimate from two to ten, will have a public state playoff in Huntsville.
Categories of questions for competition are: Personal Finance, Health and
Safety, The Environment, Technology and Consumer Rights and Responsibilities.
The winning team will go to Chicago for national competition in 2004.
Successful Aging Initiative:
This
is a grant to support a Successful Aging Initiative Senior Exposition and a
Family Conference to train extension agents and other educators on how to
strengthen families, which includes personal finance training. Through the
Successful Aging Initiative Senior Exposition and the Urban Family Conference
we train extension agents, teachers, social service workers, and other
educators on several issues. These issues comprise topics such financial
security in later life, what women need to know about money and retirement,
financial exploitation of the elderly, and basic financial planning. The
consumer education areas taught include issues such as consumer fraud, identity
theft, and consumer rights and responsibilities.
In conclusion Mr. Borg said, “The
Alabama Securities Commission is proud to be a member of the Jump$tart
Coalition because this organization provides a common ground for government,
business, and other organizations to promote personal finance initiatives to
the youth of Alabama. There will be
- more -
more available grant opportunities from the Investor Protection Trust in the
future. These are funds that come from
fines and legal settlements in the securities industry and have been
specifically earmarked for the promotion of personal finance. Also, I would like to commend the Alabama Cooperative
Extension and the Alabama Council on Economic Education who are partnering to
help teach personal finance to youth, teachers, seniors, and a wide
representation of socio-economic areas in an effort to benefit all citizens of
Alabama. A special thank you goes to
other federal agencies and business partners for providing financial or
resource support to promote personal finance literacy and education in Alabama.”
ALABAMA SECURITIES COMMISSION
770
WASHINGTON AVE, SUITE 570
MONTGOMERY,
ALABAMA 36130-4700
Telephone:
(334) 242-2984 or 1-800-222-1253. Fax: (334) 242-0240
Email: asc@asc.state.al.us. Website:
www.asc.state.al.us
###
If you have questions or require more information contact
Daniel Lord, Education and Public Affairs Manager or:
Point
of Contact: Buffy O. Murphy,
President Alabama Jump$tart Coalition
BancorpSouth Compliance/CRA Officer
2211 Highland Avenue
Birmingham, AL 35205
Phone: 205-939-4255; Fax: 205-933-6219
Buffy.Murphy@BXS.com
Point of Contact: Dr.
Thomas N. Rains
President, Alabama Council on Economic
Education
Phone:
(205) 326-0585; Fax: (205)
326-0544
E-mail: trains@economicsouth.org
Point of Contact: Dr.
Bernice Wilson
Extension Resource Management Specialist
Alabama Cooperative Extension
P.O. Box 967
Alabama A&M University
Normal, AL 35762
Direct Office: 256-372-4969; Fax:
256-851-5840