Agent Dwight Moody presents a $10,000 grant award to Economics Center Director John Morris
Cincinnati, OH, March 25, 2011 – State Farm® is awarding a $10,000 grant to the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati. The money will be used to support the Why Money Matters Financial Education Initiative, a financial literacy program for students. “The Economics Center is extremely excited to receive State Farm’s support of personal finance education for the students of Cincinnati. These funds will improve teacher education and allow thousands of students’ learning to be improved,” said John Morris, Education Director.
Specifically, the Why Money Matters Financial Education Initiative aims to bring teacher training, lessons, activities and student programs to Mt. Healthy classrooms, with the intent of positively influencing 983 students’ knowledge of personal finance basics. “Financial literacy is critical to the future success of our young people. Part of our mission at State Farm is to help people realize their dreams. Much of that begins with the basic financial skills which many teens and young adults need to develop,” said Lisa Ripley, a State Farm spokesperson.
According to the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, teens are not graduating with effective money management skills and are not knowledgeable regarding many aspects of personal finance. The non-profit organization surveys high school seniors every two years on a variety of financial concepts. The 2008 results showed that on average students answered 48.3 percent of the questions correctly, a failing grade based upon a typical grading scale used by schools. Additionally, the two weakest areas of knowledge demonstrated were savings and investing, while the two strongest were spending and income, though the average score in these areas was still a failing grade.
State Farm will present the grant award to the Economics Center on March 25, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. at Mount Healthy High School. The school is located at 8101 Hamilton Avenue in Cincinnati, OH 45231. “Children represent our future. That is why State Farm proudly supports financial literacy programs in hopes it will help all participants realize their greatest potential, so that they can make a positive impact in their communities and our world,” said Ripley.
Lisa Ripley, State Farm Public Affairs, (859) 282-5121
State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. Our 17,800 agents and more than 68,000 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts – more than 79 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and nearly 2 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 34 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca®.
The Economics Center was founded in 1977 and is a leading source of economic information and resources for educators, students, businesses, and the community. The Economics Center broadens teachers’ knowledge about economics and finance through professional development seminars and empowers teachers to introduce these important concepts to students in the classroom from kindergarten to high school. Annually, the Economics Center trains 600-1000 educators. These individuals improve their working knowledge of the economy, entrepreneurship, and personal finance and then pass this knowledge onto over 25,000 students.
