The excitement and thrill of the Residency and Fair led 40 families to request in-home financial literacy education. Working with families, we created requested educational materials and worked with the community to develop and evaluate them.
The Financial Literacy Collaboration Center is a space in the school building that students and their families visit and check out books and games for in-home learning and discussion. PS 15, Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY is our model for this Center. Students purchased and donated financial themed books and materials with some of the funds they earned in their successful Market Place Fair. The newly open school library which had been destroyed by hurricane Sandy, now promotes financial literacy to students, parents and community members.
The purpose of the FLCC is to promote reading, distribute the Moneybox, conduct parent education and financial counseling. Volunteers help students and families not only with financial learning, but also with math.
Financial literacy is economic
empowerment, not by handing out money,
but by handing out knowledge
PS15 (Red Hook, Brooklyn) and Equitable Communities:
Partnership in Community Development Through Collaborative Investment
Financial Literacy Collaboration Center (FLCC):
Collaboratively developed programming with its own dedicated space in PS 15’s library, where financial learning for students and families empowers Red Hook to overcome the opportunity gap with knowledge and resources to be their own agents of change.
Programming:
- African Marketplace Project, by Marquis Studios, brings Art and Financial Literacy together to teach economics and world citizenship.
- The Moneybox: checked out from library, financial-learning-in-a-box, fun and age appropriate for the whole family.
- Decorate a Piggy Bank Workshop: Saving money is fun!
- The Council for Economic Education will present learning initiatives with their online resources andPS 15’s computers, open to families and staff.
- Partner with the Brooklyn Library to bring financial counseling services to the FLCC.
- Partner with national/local organizations to develop financial literacy and math learning resources.
- Library readings from authors of books related to financial literacy.
- Parent workshops on how to become financially empowered, with SIBL and BPL.
- Explore after-school programming partnerships with the Council for Economic Education.
As a small community-based organization, we believe that by leveraging the resources and expertise from both communities AND larger non-profits, we are building a foundation for a community to close the opportunity gap in New York City. Our model creates pathways for all stake holders in social change.