Louisville Branch of St. Louis Fed Helps Teach Children to Save

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As we work to rebuild our economy, one of the most important investments we can make is in economic and financial education programs for ourselves and our children, and it’s never too early to start.

Volunteers from the Louisville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and local banks, during the week of April 22-26, 2013, will head into second-grade classrooms to teach personal finance topics for national Teach Children to Save Day.

The volunteers will teach a lesson based on Less Than Zero, a children’s book by Stuart J. Murphy about a penguin who learns how to save money. Volunteers from the Louisville Branch, five banks and the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions will reach 733 students in 32 classrooms in Louisville and Frankfort.

Teach Children to Save Day is a national initiative that brings financial institutions and financial literacy organizations together to provide basic personal finance education to elementary school students.

Media are invited to attend sessions taught at 2:30 p.m. April 26, 2013, at Sanders Elementary School, 8408 Terry Rd., Louisville, Ky. 40258. Among the volunteers in the classrooms that day will be:

• Maria Hampton, Regional Executive, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Louisville Branch
• David P. Heintzman, Chairman and CEO of Stock Yards Bank & Trust and member of the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Fed’s Louisville Branch

Carol Busam, who teaches second-grade students at Sanders and will have a volunteer in her classroom that day, said she thinks it’s important to start teaching children personal finance at a young age.

“This early learning will help to develop children’s knowledge of the financial process, which includes the spending and saving of money,” Busam said.  “As children begin experiencing real-life financial opportunities, they will begin to apply these strategies naturally and will carry these through to adulthood.”

Media who would like to attend one of the classes at Sanders should contact Ben Jackey, communications specialist at Jefferson County Public Schools, at 502-485-3357 or ben.jackey@jefferson.kyschools.us.

The St. Louis Fed is committed to financial literacy in K-12 classrooms. The Bank offers free downloadable lesson plans, interactive whiteboard activities and online courses for classrooms ranging from elementary school to college. All of the materials are available at http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/.