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Financial Education
Knowledge is your greatest asset. SM
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Highlights
Citigroup Financial Education Program
 
Highlights for July 2004
 
NATIONAL
 
13th Annual National HIRE Training Conference
  • July 5th-9th in Los Angeles, Citibank sponsored the 13th annual National Hispanic Internal Revenue Employee (HIRE) Training Conference offering various financial education and financial planning symposiums.
     
  • HIRE is a national organization that promotes the training, career advancement and retention of Hispanics. Their community outreach program assists low-income individuals with financial education, tax preparation and career development.
     
  • Several Citibank employees led workshops discussing Citigroup’s financial education commitment, Hispanic initiatives in the communities we serve, and retirement planning. In addition, Citigroup’s Financial Education Curriculum was used to teach 30 youth from transitional housing and foster homes at the Youth Forum.
National Urban League
  • July 16th in Harlem, Citigroup and The National Urban League, the nation’s oldest and largest community-based organization empowering African-Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream, announced a national partnership to launch a financial education program in six U.S. cities - New York, Rochester, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento. The program is designed to help people attain homeownership, broaden employment opportunities and teach the skills needed to make informed financial decisions.
     
  • Bob Willumstad, Citigroup President and COO made the announcement at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture where he presented Marc Morial, National Urban League President and CEO, with a grant check in the amount of $900,000 from the Citigroup Foundation to support the program.
     
  • The Citigroup Foundation approved the $900,000 grant (over three years) to the National Urban League for a financial education program using Citigroup’s curriculum. Six NUL affiliates (New York City, Rochester, Chicago, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego) will train Urban League constituents on basic banking, money management, saving, investing, and credit. Local Citigroup businesses will support the programs with volunteer teachers and events.
     
  • Eric Eve, Citigroup's Executive Director of Community Relations in the Global Consumer Group emceed the event. Speakers included Marc Morial, National Urban League President and CEO, Darwin Davis, New York Urban League President and CEO, Chip Raymond, President of the Citigroup Foundation, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Assemblyman Keith Wright, Council Member Bill Perkins, and Council Member Yvette Clark.
     
  • Also on the 16th, Citigroup and affiliate UL offices in Rochester, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento hosted events to announce the program to community leaders, local officials and press in their respective cities.
     
  • Citigroup participants included:
    • Rochester: Thomas Quinn, Citibank Upstate New York Regional Manager
    • Chicago: Darryl Hendricks, Citibank Illinois President
    • Los Angeles: Lisa Barrett, Citibank Regional Director
    • Sacramento: Tim Ledford, Citibank Executive Vice President, Region Manager, Central Valley/Nevada
    • San Diego: Cheryl Evans, Citibank California Community Relations Director
Puerto Rico’s Economic and Financial Education Alliance High School Competition
  • July 15th in New York City, Global Consumer Public Affairs and Community Relations hosted students from the Betzaida Velasquez Andujar High School in Ponce, Puerto Rico, who were winners of Puerto Rico’s Economic and Financial Education Alliance Competition. The group also included the students’ teachers and Dr. Cesar Rey, the territory’s Secretary of Education.
     
  • As the main sponsor of the competition, Citibank Puerto Rico, together with the Puerto Rico Economic Education Alliance and the Federal Reserve Bank and other banking institutions, provided a trip to New York City to tour U.S. financial institutions as first prize.
     
  • Students were given tours of Citigroup headquarters, a branch in East Harlem and El Museo Del Bario and were feted at breakfast and lunch events. The trip also included visits to the Federal Reserve Bank, the New York Stock Exchange, and the New York Mercantile Exchange.
     
  • Recently, Citibank made a $40,000 donation to the Puerto Rico Economic Education Alliance, for the second straight year, to provide teacher training on financial education and to raise issue awareness. To date, the Financial Education program developed by Citibank Puerto Rico’s Financial Centers and Community Re-Investment Team has helped over 5,000 students, parents, teachers and people in the community.
National Council on Economic Education
  • July 19th in New York City, the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) announced a $795,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation to produce an innovative new video/DVD wealth-building series. The announcement was made in the NCEE’s July newsletter, which is distributed, to 5,000 educators, legislators and opinion leaders.
     
  • “What Everyone Needs to Know about Building Wealth” will be a six-part documentary-style series marketed to both students and adults that will be released in the fall of 2005. The NCEE will arrange teacher-training workshops in 15 cities, and will offer it to youth-development organizations as well as adult education programs.
     
  • A formal announcement of the grant and check presentation will take place at the NCEE’s Annual Conference in Little Rock in September (9/29-10/2). In Fall 2005, when the program is ready, the NCEE will organize a detailed product launch, including a national press conference and local events where the training is to take place.
National Academy Foundation Conference
  • July 18th in New York City, Sandy Weill, Citigroup Chairman, Robert Dughi, President and Member of the Board of CitiStreet, Michael Brandes of Smith Barney, and Dara Duguay, Director of Citigroup’s Office of Financial Education, participated in the National Academy Foundation’s Annual Conference.
     
  • Sandy Weill, founder of the NAF, spoke at the opening session and was prominently featured in a video celebrating the twenty-year history of the NAF shown at the closing luncheon. Michael Brandes, participated in the Financial Services Industry panel discussion and Robert Dughi served as the keynote speaker at the Academy of Finance Directors breakfast where Dara Duguay discussed Citigroup’s commitment to financial education and the importance of financial education for high school students.
     
  • Stacey Sechrest led a financial education workshop using Citigroup's Curriculum and later distributed more than 600 copies of the Financial Education CD-Rom to Academy Directors who are eager to integrate personal finance concepts into their Academy of Finance programs. There was also considerable interest from the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism and the Academy of Information Technology Directors who agree that all students should develop basic financial management skills before they graduate high school.
     
  • Daria Sheehan, Citigroup Foundation, and Mark Skinner, CitiStreet, participated in a panel for the National Academy of Finance's business partners and shared strategies for encouraging company-wide support for the National Academy Foundation and local academies through local business volunteer engagement, technical assistance on curriculum issues, grants and scholarships.
     
  • Finally, Lissett Perez, a financial executive sales assistant for Citicorp Investment Services at the Brickell Avenue Branch in Miami, Florida, was one of seven outstanding National Academy Alumni Honorees. Lissett graduated from the Coral Reef Senior High School Academy of Finance in 2002 and joined Citibank that same year. She credits her Academy of Finance experience with giving her the competitive edge to be hired over many other candidates. She has since completed her associate’s degree in business and finance while working at Citibank and passed the series seven license exam in June. Despite her busy schedule, Lissett finds time to give back to her Academy serving as a guest speaker and helping students prepare for their internships.
Citigroup Community Fund & The United Way
  • July 23rd in Irving, Texas, Citigroup presented nine local agencies, focusing on financial education programs, with over $200,000 from the newly created Citigroup Community Fund, which includes a contribution from the Citigroup Foundation plus funds raised by Citigroup area employees during their 2003 United Way campaign.
     
  • The fund provides grants to local United Way non-profit organizations that integrate financial education curricula into their existing nonprofit services. The local agencies selected include: the YMCA, the Salvation Army, the West Dallas Community Center, the Girl Scouts (Penny Power Program), Practical Parenting of Collin County, Women’s Haven, Catholic Charities, Girls, Inc., and the Boys and Girls Clubs.
     
  • The Citigroup Community Fund is one of the first of its kind in the nation for corporate-United Way partnerships that help mobilize the caring power of communities by targeting a specific issue, such as financial education. The fund, which makes funds available to a wide variety of organizations to implement financial education programs is expected to be a model for other companies that want to integrate corporate missions into charitable projects.
Summer Youth Employment Week
  • July 29th in New York City, Citibank hosted a kick-off breakfast in partnership with the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), a city agency that oversees the Summer Youth Employment Program for youngsters between the ages of 14-21. This summer, 33,000 youth have been placed in summer employment through a network of 51 nonprofit organizations funded by the DYCD.
     
  • This year’s theme is “Money Smarts for Youth - Investing in Your Future” and the DYCD has added a 20-hour financial education component to the program. During “Youth Expo Week,” the week of August 2nd, each Borough Hall will host activities to further engage youth in financial education activities. Citibank Community Relations is working with the FC Area Managers to organize Citibank booths in all five boroughs.
     
  • Ajay Banga, Citigroup’s Global Consumer Group Executive Vice President and President of Citibank Retail Banking North America, and Dara Duguay, Citigroup’s Director of the Office of Financial Education, spoke at the event.
     
  • Other speakers included Diana Taylor, Superintendent of Banks for the New York State Banking Department, Steven Malin, Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Muriel Siebert, President and Chair of Muriel F. Siebert & Company, Dennis Walcott, Deputy Mayor for Policy, Darren Smith, Grand Prize Winner of the Fleet Youth Entrepreneur Competition, and John Bryant, Founder and CEO of Operation Hope.
     
  • All attendees received information about Citigroup’s global Financial Education commitment.
INTERNATIONAL
 
Citigroup Faculty Fellowship Program
  • July 6th in St. Petersburg, ZAO Citigroup, a member of Citigroup, announced a three year US$100,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation to the School of Management at St. Petersburg State University to renew the funding of the Citigroup Faculty Fellowship Program.
     
  • The Faculty Fellowship Program grants will be distributed on a competitive basis to faculty members. The grant allows the University to enhance its curriculum by teaching courses in management, corporate finance, marketing, and human resources.
     
  • The grant follows a similar grant of US$60,000 made in 2001 by the Citigroup Foundation in recognition of the University’s achievements teaching modern business theory and practices. Allan Hirst, President of ZAO Citibank, serves on the University’s Board of Directors and is involved in many of the School of Management’s activities.
Citigroup Stock Challenge Program
  • July 5th in Hong Kong, Citigroup Hong Kong launched the Stock Challenge Program, the first program of its kind in Hong Kong, to more than 300 students from 12 schools. The program was supported with a $40,000 grant to the Learning Society from the Citigroup Foundation.
     
  • The Stock Challenge is designed to allow students with little or no knowledge of the functioning of the markets to participate in an active learning, project-based activity which simulates a real stock market. Students are guided through carefully planned activities that introduce financial concepts, build critical thinking, reading and interpretation skills, develop understanding about group dynamics and group decision-making, and provide the necessary skills to succeed during the simulation activity.
     
  • Mr. Lawrence Fok, Head of Business Development & Investor Services Division of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Ms. Ivy Lai, Head of Investor Education and Communications, Securities and Futures Commission and Mr. Edward Yau, Deputy Secretary of Education and Manpower Bureau attended the closing ceremony and presented awards to the winning teams.
National YWCA of Korea’s Economy Camp for Teenagers
  • July 27th in Daegu City, where Citibank recently opened a branch, Citigroup and the National YWCA of Korea hosted the third annual Economy Camp for Teenagers, a two-day seminar series, designed to help high school students develop personal financial management skills. 50 middle and high school students attended across Daegu and Kyungbuk Province.
     
  • The curriculum covers basic banking, saving and investments, credit and debt management, consumer issues, financial service distribution channels and basic economic principles. Programs and activities focused on credit management and personal finance with lectures by Professor Wan-seon Shin of System Management Engineering in Sungkyunkwan University, who spoke about Self Leadership in an Economic Society, and Dr. Joo-young Park of the Research Institute of Human Ecology in Seoul National University, who spoke about the Circulation of Money and Credit Management. Various games and group activities were held as well.
     
  • Dong-ryul Lee, Daegu branch manager of Citibank, addressed students on opening day about the overall theme and goals of the camp as well as the opportunities for students.
     
  • The Citigroup Foundation made a US$77,500 donation to the YWCA of Korea for a total of four Economy Camps from 2003 through 2004. The grant also supported the development of curriculum materials, a student handbook, financial education seminars and a website which will feature videotapes of the seminars and program materials to increase program replication across Korea.