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Financial Education
Knowledge is your greatest asset. SM
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Highlights
Citigroup Financial Education Program
 
Highlights for July 2005
 
UNITED STATES
 
Texas Legislation on Personal Finance Education in Schools
  • July 12th in Austin, Citigroup’s Office of Financial Education announced plans to support two Financial Literacy bills recently signed by Governor Perry by sharing Citigroup’s free Financial Education Curriculum with school districts and by providing Citigroup employee volunteers to conduct credit lessons in schools on “National Get Smart About Credit Day” in October. In addition, Citibank will sponsor the National Theatre for Children’s “Mad About Money,” a financial literacy theatrical production, in select Texas middle schools this Fall. The announcement was covered by the Houston Chronicle.
  • The legislation (Texas H.B. 492 and S.B. 851) requires the State Board of Education to adopt personal financial literacy instruction in one or more courses required for high school graduation, with school districts and open-enrollment charter schools including personal financial literacy in the economics curriculum in the 2006-2007 school year, as well as the development of a pilot program on financial literacy.
  • In Texas, Citigroup shares it's free Financial Education Curriculum with several strategic nonprofit partners, including the Texas Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs, and supports a unique program through the United Way that targets financial education programs within its network of agencies. Citigroup's employees also contribute their own resources to this program. In addition, Citigroup employees are trained to assist with this curriculum in a volunteer capacity in order to extend the service reach of these non-profit groups.
  • In 2004, Citigroup and the Citigroup Foundation awarded more than $2,700,000 in grants and sponsorships to charitable and non-profit organizations in communities across Texas to support financial education, general education, child development, and community development programs, among others.
Iowa Jump$tart Coalition Conference
  • July 21st and 22nd in Des Moines, Dan Clute, Vice President, Public Affairs for Citi Cards, attended the Iowa Jump$tart Coalition’s fourth annual personal finance conference for secondary teachers, sponsored by Citigroup. Approximately 100 educators attended the statewide teacher-training event and each received information on Citigroup’s Financial Education Curriculum. The Honorable Robert D. Ray, former Governor of Iowa, delivered the keynote address.
  • The two-day conference featured lectures and hands-on activities and provided teachers with up-to-date information, suggested teaching strategies and sample classroom materials on a wide range of topics, including credit cards, consumer debt, insurance, identity theft, saving, and investing.
Greater Des Moines Habitat For Humanity
  • July 23-24, Citigroup sponsored a financial education seminar for 20 Habitat family members, taught by Tom Ostwald, District Manager, CitiFinancial, and Kerri Moegenburg, Telesales Lending Consultant, Citi Home Equity. Citigroup is the 2005 Financial Education Partner of the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity. Additional seminars are planned for August 6th and 20th.
Operation HOPE in Washington, DC and Baltimore
  • July 27th in Washington, D.C., Dara Duguay, Director of Citigroup’s Office of Financial Education, teamed up with John Bryant, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE, to lead an interactive “Banking on our Future” seminar on how to use their credit wisely at Howard University’s Blackburn Center for local high school and college students. National Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCRC) President Anthony Freeman delivered opening remarks.
  • July 28th in Baltimore, Mary Louise Preis, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Citigroup Consumer Finance North America, joined John Bryant to teach more than 128 interns participating in The Johns Hopkins Hospital Program (JHH), a career and college preparation training course.
  • According to “The State of Financial Literacy Amongst Young African American Adults in America,” a recent study commissioned by OHI, and administered by Dr. Lewis Mandell and the Jump$tart Coalition, many university administrators believe that credit card debt leads to a higher drop out rate than academic failure.
  • In February, Citigroup announced a $500,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation to expand the Banking on Our Future program to reach 10,000 students in seven cities, including Washington, DC, Baltimore, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, CA; and Atlanta. Citigroup employees volunteer as HOPE Corps banker-teachers to educate students about the basics of earning income, budgeting, saving and investing. Since its inception, “Banking on Our Future” has served over 140,000 individuals nationwide.
Federal Reserve Banks of San Antonio, El Paso & Houston
  • July 26, 27 and 28th, Debbie Taylor, CFNA’s Director of Corporate Affairs, delivered financial education presentations on “Striving to Become Financially Fit” at conferences hosted by The Federal Reserve Banks in El Paso, Houston and San Antonio and the Texas Council on Economic Education.
  • The conferences were attended by high school educators interested in incorporating personal finance education into their classrooms. Workshops focused on money in the form of income, how personal choices affect future income, and the difference between the money we make and the money we keep. Conference sessions also included ideas for classroom activities.
National Urban League Annual Conference
  • July 28th in Washington, DC, Eric Eve, Citigroup's Executive Director of Community Relations in the Global Consumer Group, addressed the Young Urban Professionals at the National Urban League’s Influencer Summit about Citigroup’s partnership with the NUL on a Financial Education program in six cities. Citigroup was the title sponsor of the Influencer Summit and co-sponsor of the luncheon.
  • In July 2004, Citigroup and the NUL announced financial education program in six cities: New York City, Rochester, Chicago, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego. Supported by a $900,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation, the program is designed to help people attain homeownership, broaden employment opportunities and teach the skills needed to make informed financial decisions. Each Urban League affiliate participating in the program is using Citigroup’s Financial Education Curriculum to train its constituents on banking, money management, saving, investing, and credit. Local Citigroup businesses are supporting the program with volunteer teachers and events.
  • Since the launch, 62 Citigroup employees have worked with NUL affiliates to teach approximately 1,800 members of the NUL, as well as other constituents, within the local communities.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION TRAINING
 
To date, more than 2,160 employees and non-profit partner staff have undergone training to teach financial education using the Citigroup Financial Education curriculum.
 
1,220 people have participated in the online training since the April launch of the site.

 
INTERNATIONAL
 
Lebanon
 
American University of Beirut
  • July 11th in Beirut, Citigroup announced a $25,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation to support the American University of Beirut’s (AUB) Olayan School of Business scholarship program. Recently, Elia S. Samaha, Managing Director, Citigroup Country Officer for Lebanon and Advisory Board Member to the AUB’s Olayan School of Business, presented W. Stephen Jeffrey, AUB’s Vice President for Development and External Relations, with the grant check. The grant supplements an earlier $100,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation, payable over four years.
  • The grant will be used to provide financial assistance to eligible students pursuing undergraduate degrees at the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business. In April 2005, Citigroup employees and alumnae developed and delivered an accredited AUB course together with AUB staff entitled Risks in Commercial Banking.
Japan
 
National Institute on Consumer Education
  • July 5th in Tokyo, Citigroup and the National Institute on Consumer Education (NICE), announced the launch of “Acorn Market,” a financial educational board game for middle-school students that will be distributed to middle schools across Japan. The program is supported by a grant from the Citigroup Foundation.
  • "Acorn Market" was developed by educators to give students an opportunity to learn the workings of financial and economic systems, including the role of markets and prices, and risk and return. Students learn about labor and productivity, the role of taxes, deposits, stocks, and life insurance, as well as household management. After playing the game, students participate in a lesson on the actual financial and economic systems.
  • Citigroup's other collaborations with NICE include the "Citigroup Success Fund," launched in 2004, where Japanese middle-school and high-school teachers are invited to make innovative educational plans designed to give children and students a chance to experience the joy of learning and achievement.