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Financial Education
Knowledge is your greatest asset. SM
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Highlights
Citigroup Financial Education Program
 
Highlights for April 2005
 
UNITED STATES
 
Citigroup Financial Education Curriculum Training Program Launch
  • On April 7th, the first anniversary of Citigroup’s 10 year, $200 million commitment to Financial Education, Citigroup’s Office of Financial Education announced the launch of the Citigroup Financial Education Curriculum Training Program.
  • Available to all U.S. employees and non-profit partners who have received grants from the Citigroup Foundation and/or a sponsorship from a Citigroup business, training will consist of an online tutorial and complementary classroom facilitation skills course.
  • The Citigroup Financial Education Curriculum includes lessons about money, budgeting, and spending for students in grades K-8 and lessons on basic banking services, saving and investing, credit and an introduction to financial services for youth age 14 and up. In addition, the site offers advice on how to effectively prepare a presentation, what to expect in the classroom, and tips on how to engage learners. Information on how to become a Citigroup employee volunteer and volunteer opportunities in your area is also provided.
  • In 2004, Citigroup businesses and the Citigroup Foundation spent almost US $23 million on financial education programs around the world. An estimated 600 US Citigroup employee volunteers delivered over 3,500 hours of financial education in their communities in 2004.
Texas Alliance Of Boys And Girls Clubs
  • April 5th in Arlington, Gene Schutt, President and CEO of CitiFinancial Mortgage, and Mary McDowell, President and CEO of CitiFinancial Auto and Chair of Citigroup’s Texas Leadership Council, announced a $100,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation to the Texas Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs, the statewide membership association for all Boys & Girls Clubs, to support a statewide financial education program. The announcement was made at the Boys & Girls Club in Arlington at an event celebrating National Boys & Girls Club Week.
  • 59 Boys and Girls Club locations across Texas will participate in the program and reach 5,400 students in 14 cities and three military bases, including Houston, Dallas and surrounding Metroplex, San Antonio, Austin, Bryan, Abilene, Odessa, and Amarillo.
  • Using the Citigroup Financial Education Curriculum, Boys and Girls Club employees and Citigroup volunteers will teach age-appropriate financial topics including saving, banking, budgeting and credit to youth and teens from grades 3-12. As part of the Boys and Girls Clubs ongoing Life Skills Training, the program is designed to empower youth with the education and skills they will need to make informed financial decisions.
Banking On Our Future Across America
  • April 12th in Atlanta, Jeff Fendler, President and CEO of Primerica Life Insurance Company, participated in a press conference with John Bryant, Operation HOPE Founder and CEO, and the Honorable Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta and acclaimed civil rights activist, to announce the launch of Banking on Our Future Across America, Operation HOPE’s national financial literacy campaign aimed at empowering the upcoming generations of inner city youth. Jeff Fendler discussed Citigroup’s commitment to Financial Education, including the unique volunteerism component, as well as the recent $500,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation to support program expansion to 7 cities.
  • Press conference participants included: Dr. Beverly Hall, Superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, and Rhonda Mims, President and Counsel of the ING Foundation.
  • The press conference is part of a series of events for Operation HOPE’s “Day of HOPE” that included a financial education training session at Jean Childs Young Middle School and an afternoon panel discussion, “From Civil Rights to Silver Rights.”
Southeast Regional Financial Education Center’S Financial Literacy Youth Conference
  • April 16th in Greenville, NC, Don Laney, Managing Director of CitiFinancial, and Mike Wyatt, Region Manager, CitiFinancial, served as luncheon keynote speakers at the Southeast Regional Financial Education Center’s (SERFEC) Financial Literacy Youth Conference at Pitt Community College.
  • The day-long event included workshops on budgeting, banking and savings, credit and investing and a “Real World Event” in which students will be challenged to develop a budget based on varied educational and employment levels while ensuring everyday needs and situational crises are met. 15 CitiFinancial employee volunteers will teach credit workshops.
Do Something Financial Education Challenge 2005
  • April 18th, Citigroup and Do Something, a premier provider of youth-led leadership and citizenship initiatives, announced the nationwide kickoff of the 2nd annual Financial Education Challenge, where students and their teachers can access a free downloadable game and curriculum to learn about money management and financial responsibility. The 2005 challenge is supported by a $213,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation.
  • The Financial Education Challenge, accessed via www.dosomething.org, is a two-segment program of “Learning” and “Doing” based on Citigroup’s Financial Education Curriculum. Last year, more than 2,000 teachers across the U.S. downloaded the curriculum, reaching an estimated 50,000 students around the country, and more than 15,000 young people played the game.
  • According to an independent study conducted by the Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management, educators who participated in the 2004 Financial Education Challenge felt that it greatly increased students’ knowledge of personal finance.
  • To date, the following television stations have picked up the video news release created to promote the Do Something Financial Education Challenge: KCBS-TV (Los Angeles), KRTV-TV (Boise), WSJV-TV (South Bend), WCMH-TV (Columbus), and the satellite news services of both FOX and CBS.
California Jump$tart
  • On April 19th in Sacramento, Mona Masri, Community Relations Western Division Initiatives Director, and Greg Meyer, CRD Silicon Valley, took part in a Financial Education presentation on credit management with California JumpStart at the state Capitol building. Greg and Mona led a roundtable discussion on how to establish credit and then addressed questions regarding credit problems and other issues.
National Teach Children To Save Day
  • On April 26, Citigroup teamed up with the American Bankers Association Education Foundation (ABAEF), for the fifth straight year, to participate in National Teach Children to Save Day. Citi employees in New York, California, Maryland, Texas, Washington, DC and Delaware cities participated in events and reached an estimated 3,500 students.
  • For the first time, this event will be a year-round volunteer opportunity for Citigroup employees.
  • On NTCSD, more than 4,000 bankers will make presentations to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Presentations include games and activities about the concept of saving, how interest makes money grow, how to budget and determining needs and wants. Since NTCSD began in 1997, thousands of bankers have made 29,445 presentations reaching nearly 1.2 million students.
  • Events included:
    • In New York City, Dara Duguay, Director of Citigroup’s Office of Financial Education, emceed an event at Pace University for students from MS 131. Denise Durham Williams, National Community Relations Director for Citibank, and Warren Hochbaum, Deputy of Consumer Services for the New York State Department of Banking, taught a lesson called “The Cost of Cool.” Bill Thompson, NYC Comptroller, and Susan Cole, Director of the ABAEF, also attended.
    • In Newark, 88 Citigroup employees used the Citigroup Financial Education Curriculum to teach an estimated 2,589 students in 83 schools. The Delaware Banker's Association and the University of Delaware's Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship organized the events.
    • In Baltimore, Mary Louise Preis, General Council for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs of CitiFinancial, and other CitiFinancial employees taught 150 8th grade students at Francis Scott Key Middle School.
    • In Washington, DC, Alyson Klug, CBNA Regional Manager, and Donald Hammond, US Treasury Fiscal Assistant Secretary, taught students at The Key Elementary School.
    • In San Antonio, 23 Citi volunteers taught approximately 300 students at the Colonial Hills and Five Palms Elementary Schools.
    • In Southern California, Citi employee volunteers taught over 400 students in 14 schools.
Financial Literacy On The Hill
  • April 27th in Washington, DC, Citigroup participated in a Financial Literacy Day Fair sponsored by The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, Junior Achievement, and the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE).
  • Speakers included Congressman Rubén Hinojosa and Congresswoman Judy Biggert, cofounders and co-chairs of the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus, and Senator Daniel Akaka. The event was followed by a video and educational fair where Citigroup joined federal agencies like the Financial and Economic Literacy Commission, the Federal Reserve Board, the American Financial Services Association, and the IRS as well as other banks in providing brochures and information on personal finance.
Port Discovery’s “The Money Game”
  • April 30th in Towson, Chris Wautel and Darla Smith of CitiFinancial performed in Port Discovery’s “The Money Game,” The Baltimore Children’s Museum’s financial education exhibit, at the Towson Town Festival. Supported by a grant from the Citigroup Foundation, “The Money Game” is a fast-paced, interactive game providing students in grades 3-6 with an understanding of money concepts such as saving, earning, investing and budgeting.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION TRAINING
 
To date, more than 1,400 employees and non-profit partner staff have undergone training to teach financial education using the Citigroup Financial Education curriculum.
 
As of April 30, 429 people have participated in the online training.
 
ASIA PACIFIC
 
HONG KONG
 
Et Business College
  • April 26th in Hong Kong, Ricky Lin, Director of Investment Sales and Marketing, Citibank, and Fanny Pang, Executive Director of the ET Business College, announced the 2005 launch of “The Next Generation of Elite Personal Finance Program,” a six-week financial education program for high school and university students. The program includes three events, “A Dialogue with the Bankers,” “Wisdom to Invest for a Better Life,” and “The Junior Financial Secretary Contest- Building a Glamorous Hong Kong in the Year of Tourism 2006.”
  • As the program was announced, Citibank and the ET Business College also revealed the results of a survey to understand teenagers’ and parents’ views on the teenagers’ career prospects, the local economy and their concepts of personal finance. Commissioned with the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the survey indicated that there is a significant gap between the teenagers’ and their parents on personal finance issues and that parents’ lack financial planning for their retirement and families.
JAPAN
 
Citi Success Fund Award Ceremony
  • April 2nd in Shinagawa-Ku, Citigroup Japan hosted the Citi Success Find Award ceremony. Supported by a US$110,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation, the Citi Success Fund is run under the auspices of the National Institute on Consumer Education (NICE). The fund supports the development by local teachers of unique, cross discipline studies.
  • Earlier in the year, NICE issued a press release announcing the program. In its first year, 85 teachers from across Japan submitted applications. Of those, the selection committee chose 33 to receive grants. 30 out of 33 award recipients traveled from all over Japan to attend the award ceremony and the reception to follow. Each was presented with a Certificate as well as a copy of Citibank: A Century in Asia.
EMEA
 
DUBAI
 
Dubai University College
  • April 11th in Dubai, Sajjad Razvi, Citigroup Country Officer, UAE, and H.E. Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Mutaiwee, Director General, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), announced the establishment of the Joint Venture for Finance & Entrepreneurship at the Dubai University College, the educational arm of the DCCI. The financial education program is designed to enhance the qualifications and skills of DUC students who will be entering the workforce, and the entrepreneurial qualifications of women through specialized and focused workshops.
  • Supported through a USD $50,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation, JVFE will provide scholarships to 14 merit students at DUC. These scholarships will cover the tuition expenses of business specialization courses in the four majors of Management, Marketing, Finance & Banking and Accounting.
  • Separately, under the women entrepreneurship initiative of JVFE, the Citigroup Foundation will sponsor 30 businesswomen in the UAE to undergo a rigorous 4-month training program on Idea Generation and Business Plan Development at DUC. Topics will include the challenges of entrepreneurship, building the business plan, strategic planning, forms of ownership, marketing, pricing, cash flows, financial planning, putting the plan to work, and looking at ethical and legal concerns as well as the regulatory environment.