Citi Financial Education Program

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Citigroup Financial Education Program

Highlights for September 2005

United States

Delaware Financial Literacy Institute

September 27th in Wilmington, John Kohari, Chairman and CEO of Citibank Delaware, presented a $220,000 grant check from the Citigroup Foundation, payable over two years, to Ronni Cohen, Executive Director of the Delaware Financial Literacy Institute, to support the expansion of "From Purses to Portfolios," a program for women that provides the information and motivation to achieve financial security. State Treasurer Jack Markell also attended the event.
"From Purses to Portfolios" includes a free, multi-faceted state-wide financial education conference for women, organized by the Delaware Money School, which drew over 1,000 women last year. The program also includes Delaware Money School Classes, community symposiums, and a website and education materials designed to address financial challenges faced by women of all ages, incomes and life situations. When participants take 10 hours of financial education classes they qualify for a "Take Charge Delaware Woman" Certificate.
At the event, program participant Paulette Gordon commented: "Delaware Money School classes and the Purses to Portfolios program have given me confidence in knowing that it is never too late to become financially independent. The classes teach that it is not the amount of money you have, but how much discipline you have when using that money that is important."
In November, State Treasurer Jack Markell awarded Citigroup the State Treasurer Financial Education Leadership Award for Citigroup's commitment and support for financial education for Delaware Citizens, and for envisioning and implementing this program for Delaware women.

The National Theatre for Children Debuts "Mad About Money"

September 28th in New York, Citibank sponsored the first, live performances of "Mad About Money," an in-school theater show, developed by the National Theatre for Children (NTC) in partnership with Lightbulb Press, that uses comic improve to teach personal finance topics to middle school students. After a launch event at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, the program debuted at Independent School 286 in Harlem and the East Side Community High School. "Mad About Money" is the only nationwide educational show of its kind to teach young people the principles of saving, budgeting, investing and credit.
"Mad About Money" program components, which meet state and national standards for teaching financial and investor literacy, include live in-school performances, engaging workbooks, take-home activities, Internet exercises, guidebooks, curricular aids for teachers, and a rigorous testing method for measuring program results.
In October, Citibank will sponsor the program in several Texas cities, including Dallas and Houston, and CitiFinancial will sponsor the program in Baltimore. The NTC plans to take the performance to 1,000 schools in all 50 states next year.

U.S. Financial Education Training

National Community Tax Coalition Conference

September 20th in Chicago, Stacey Sechrest Carder, Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Education, delivered two asset building workshops to approximately 80 tax preparers who work with individuals filing for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The workshop explored the connection between financial literacy and asset building, using the EITC as an opportunity to enter the banking mainstream and begin building assets for financial stability and mobility.
The workshop was organized by the Center for Economic Progress, Citigroup's Global Community Programs, CRA/Fair Lending and Global Community Relations. CITY YEAR NEW YORK
September 22nd in Long Island City, Stacey Sechrest Carder trained 105 City Year Corps Members and staff on how to deliver the Citigroup Financial Education Program to students in third to fifth grades in elementary schools in underserved communities across New York City.
Queens Assemblywoman Kathy Nolan and Ken Grough, Executive Director of City Year NY, spoke to the students about the importance of their participation.
City Year will incorporate Financial Education instruction into its Starfish program and after-school workshops that offer instruction in civic skills, team skills, public speaking and literacy. The program is expected to reach nearly 400 students.

Asia Pacific

Singapore

FinEdx: The Financial Education Exchange

September 6th in Singapore, Ashok Vaswani, CEO, Asia Pacific Consumer Banking, Citigroup, and Professor Hellmut Schutte, Dean of INSEAD's Asia Campus, announced the launch of the Financial Education Exchange or "FinEdx," a new regional learning hub dedicated to improving financial literacy levels in Asia Pacific. Supported by a grant from the Citigroup Foundation, FinEdx will be free for the first year.

The first of its kind in the region, FinEdx is an on-line knowledge and learning portal (www.finedx.org) that offers teaching materials, research reports, best practice case studies, and impact assessment tools, as well as contact information for existing financial education program providers both locally and internationally. In addition to online discussion, FinEdx also features an on-line training facility, providing non-profit organizations information in areas such as strategy, performance management, and financial management.
Inaugural members include representatives from non-profit organizations, regulatory and government bodies, education authorities, and private sector companies including AWARE (Association of Women for Action and Research), Bank Negara Malaysia, Central Provident Fund, Monetary Authority of Singapore, the National Institute of Education, Learning Society and Visa International.
During the event, Citigroup and INSEAD announced the second Citigroup-INSEAD Financial Education Summit to be held on December 12th-13th, 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Over 250 participants from around the world are expected to convene at this conference that will focus on advancing financial literacy for youth and adults in Asia Pacific.

Taiwan

Kids Wealth Foundation

September 6th in Taipei, Citibank Taiwan Country Business Manager Victor Kuan announced the launch of the Kids Wealth Foundation (KWF), the first Citigroup financial education initiative to focus on elementary school students (aged six to twelve years of age) in Taiwan. The program, supported by a grant from the Citigroup Foundation, will run in 30 elementary schools this Fall. To teach financial concepts in a fun and interactive way, the program includes The Adventures of Agent Penny comic books, discussions and skits run by Ifkids Theatre Group and teaching sessions involving Citibank volunteers. Financial Supervisory Council (FSC) Administrative Vice Chair Person, Susan Chang, also attended the event.

EMEA

POLAND

My Finances September 19th in Warsaw, the Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, a part of the Citigroup Foundation, teamed up with the National Bank of Poland and the Junior Achievement Foundation to launch "My Finances," a nationwide financial education program designed to engage and teach young people how to manage their personal finances and better understand the rules governing the economy and business. The program aims to reach 216,000 students and 2,400 teachers in approximately 2,000 secondary schools by 2007.

Surveys conducted for the program revealed alarmingly low levels of financial awareness among teenagers who do not know how to invest or how banks and other financial institutions work. The "My Finances" program includes workshops with different multimedia teaching materials, such as films and games, and will be implemented in 3 modules: "To Start to Like Banks," "My Investments," and "Investing Towards the Future." Teachers will receive special training and consultation from experts to prepare them to conduct the workshops.