For Immediate Release
Monday, March 23, 2009
America’s Promise Alliance and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation Partner to Provide Curriculum To Teach Youth about Financial Responsibility
Web-based Tools are Companion to Documentary Film I.O.U.S.A.
WASHINGTON –America’s Promise Alliance, in partnership with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, today announced the release of a new, online curriculum titled $aving Our Futures: A Financial Responsibility Program for Young People to teach young people in middle and high school about financial responsibility, and to advocate for smarter money management in their homes, communities and from elected officials. Developed by the Academy for Educational Development, the curriculum is designed to be a companion to the critically acclaimed documentary I.O.U.S.A. and can be used in or after school. It is being made available for free at www.americaspromise.org/financialresponsibility. An abbreviated version of I.O.U.S.A. is available to accompany the curriculum, as well as promotional tools for those that want to share it with others.
$aving Our Futures contains six chapters and 26 modules that can be used in whole or in part. Four core chapters – Budget, Savings, Trade and Leadership – align with the movie’s introduction of these same topics. The remaining chapters include an Introduction that outlines the purpose and urgency of these lessons and an Action chapter that provides young people with a blueprint to design their own action and advocacy plans. The curriculum also includes an extensive “resources” section that provides a full glossary of terms, templates, tools and tips that can be used to prepare materials for curriculum activities and help teachers and youth community leaders effectively translate new concepts and terms.
“We are thrilled to be able to make this curriculum available to schools and youth community organizations at such a critical time in our country’s economic history,” said Marguerite W. Kondracke, president and CEO, America’s Promise Alliance. “The $aving Our Futures curriculum will teach young people about what it means to be financially responsible and give them an important opportunity to practice and advocate for sound fiscal decisions in their families, communities and in our country.”
Each curriculum module includes learning objectives, activities, new vocabulary, discussion questions, community extension activities and tips to help instructors prepare, implement, and troubleshoot various activities. Where applicable, curriculum modules reference the I.O.U.S.A. movie and encourage the viewing of specific sections of the film to enhance the lessons of that module. The four core curriculum
chapters include several sections focusing on math skills, and community extension activities in each section encourage young people to apply the lessons learned in their homes, schools, communities and, in some cases, with the media and directly with elected officials. The action sections build on the suggested action steps proposed at the end of the movie and can be adapted to respond more directly to the issues in local communities or to meet the specific needs of curriculum participants.
“Today’s young people are going to bear the burden of our nation’s financial crisis if something is not done now to reverse it,” stated the Hon. David M. Walker, president and CEO of the Peterson Foundation. “What better way to start doing something about this problem than empowering young people to be part of the solution.”
The development of $aving Our Futures: A Financial Responsibility Program for Young People was made possible through a grant from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to support efforts to expand opportunities for children and youth—particularly middle and high school students—to learn more about finance and the nation’s fiscal stability and how they can become more financially responsible.
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About the America’s Promise Alliance
America’s Promise Alliance is the nation’s largest partnership alliance comprised of corporations, nonprofit organizations, foundations, policymakers, advocacy and faith groups committed to ensuring that children receive the fundamental resources – the Five Promises – they need to lead successful, healthy and productive lives and build a stronger society. Building on the legacy of our founder General Colin Powell, the Alliance believes the success of our children is grounded in experiencing the Five Promises – caring adults; safe places; a healthy start; an effective education; and opportunities to help others—at home, in school and in the community. For more information visit: www.americaspromise.org.
About the Peter G. Peterson Foundation
Founded by the former senior chairman of The Blackstone Group with a commitment of $1 billion, the Foundation is dedicated to increasing public awareness of the nature and urgency of key economic challenges threatening America's future and to accelerating action on them. To address these challenges successfully, we work to bring Americans together to find sensible, long-term solutions that transcend age, party lines and ideological divides in order to achieve real results. For more information, visit: www.PGPF.org.
About the Academy for Educational Development
Founded in 1961, the Academy for Educational Development is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to solving critical social problems and building the capacity of individuals, communities and institutions to become more self-sufficient. AED works in all the major areas of human development, with a focus on improving education, health and economic opportunities for the least advantaged in the United States and developing countries around the world. For more information, visit: www.aed.org.