Master Your Card Expands Innovative Financial Education Program as Part of Official Launch in Richmond Public Schools
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) October 20, 2017 -- Master Your Card, a community empowerment program sponsored by Mastercard®, today joined students and teachers from J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School and officials from Richmond Public Schools to launch the expansion of a proven, interactive financial education program in Richmond, Va., public elementary and high schools. This expansion builds on a successful pilot conducted during the 2016-17 school year with more than 1,000 students in 10 Richmond schools.
“Through Master Your Card’s work with its community partners, we know that education is vital to financial stability and connecting with kids on financial topics sets them up to achieve that goal,” said Rev. David L. Chapman, member of the Master Your Card African American Advisory Board and interim executive minister of the Baptist General Convention of Virginia. “This financial education program is an important and valuable investment in students in Richmond that will pay dividends for them in the future, here and wherever life may take them.”
This program is part of Master Your Card’s efforts to provide financial education to people of all ages in financially underserved communities. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, nearly one in every five households in the Richmond area is financially underserved, meaning they have no or only limited access to traditional financial services. As a result, these families often rely on alternative financial services, such as check cashers and payday lenders, to access and manage their money. The average financially underserved family spends nearly 10 percent of its income on the fees and interest associated with these services.
“Millions of people across the country are stuck in a cash economy and pay more for less because they rely on alternative financial services that drain communities of valuable time and money,” said Shawn Miles, executive vice president of public policy at Mastercard. “These families have a hard time making ends meet, let alone build wealth for future generations. But with targeted outreach and education, such as our program with EVERFI, we can teach kids and their families how to better manage their money with tools like electronic payment technology and achieve greater financial stability.”
Master Your Card partnered with EVERFI, Inc., the nation’s leading education technology company, to bring this financial education program to students at no cost to schools or taxpayers. The program features an interactive learning platform specifically designed to introduce financial literacy skills early in a child’s cognitive development. The web-based curriculum for elementary school students aligns with state and national financial education standards, and features topics such as income and careers, needs versus wants, credit and borrowing, savings and investing, and other financial topics.
“At J.E.B. Stuart Elementary and in public schools throughout Richmond, we strive to provide our students with the essential skills they need to live as productive citizens in a highly technological world,” said Natalie Davis, Instructional Technology Resource Teacher in Richmond Public Schools. “The Master Your Card financial education program uses fun, engaging technology to help our students build strong financial foundations and reach their greatest potential.”
In addition to Richmond, Master Your Card and EVERFI conducted pilot programs at schools in Baltimore, Southeast Los Angeles, the Bronx in New York City and the Mississippi Delta. Expansions are underway in those areas, along with schools in St. Louis.
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About Master Your Card
Master Your Card is a community empowerment program sponsored by Mastercard® to help consumer advocacy groups, small business groups and governments appreciate the value of credit, prepaid and debit cards as access points to an economically empowering electronic payments network. Learn more at http://www.masteryourcardusa.org.
About EVERFI, Inc.
EVERFI is the leading education technology company that provides learners of all ages education for the real world through innovative and scalable digital learning. EVERFI powers community focused financial education for 750 financial institutions across the country. Founded in 2008, EVERFI is fueled by its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscription model and has certified over 18 million learners in critical skill areas. Some of America's leading CEOs and venture capital firms are EVERFI investors including Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Twitter founder Evan Williams, TPG Growth, The Rise Fund, Advance Publications, and Rethink Education, and Rethink Impact. The EVERFI Education Network powers more than 4,300 partners in their education initiatives across all 50 states and Canada. Learn more at everfi.com.
Jackie Priestly, Master Your Card, https://www.masteryourcardusa.org/, +1 202-251-9703, [email protected]
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