Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition

AWARD PROFILE

Courageous Thinking and Actions
Rhode Island Jump$tart is a coalition of Rhode Island organizations, businesses, educators, individuals, and other stakeholders dedicated to improving the financial capability of the region’s residents, including under-served populations. We seek to improve personal financial knowledge and skills so that individuals may be empowered to employ responsible personal financial practices that can lead to lifelong financial security and fulfillment. Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition carries out its mission by convening forums where partners and other stakeholders can network, exchange ideas, promote efforts and form alliances; sharing and promoting best practices in financial capability programs; promoting trusted programs, educational resources, and when possible, providing funds to target population program providers; and increasing awareness among policymakers, civic leaders, and other people of influence about the need for and benefits of increased personal financial capability in Rhode Island and beyond.

Vision and Innovation
Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition envisions a state in which young people become increasingly responsible for their personal economic well-being as they approach adulthood and contribute to their communities as adult citizens. We see education, business, civic, family, government, and other stakeholders being actively engaged and working together to provide youth and adults with the information and skills they need to confidently navigate today’s dynamic personal financial marketplace.

During 2020, RI Jump$tart joined with other education-focused organizations to respond the unprecedented disruptions created by the pandemic. We pivoted from educator training and developed and delivered a series of workshops for students grades 4-12 under the moniker of FROGs - Financial Responsibility and Opportunity-Gain Seekers. These sessions reengaged students with students, students with educators, and students to industry professional volunteers through age-appropriate, personal-finance-related activities.

Inspiring Leadership
RI Jump$tart supported a grass-roots student movement that ushered in Rhode Island’s voluntary adoption of personal finance standards in 2014. By spearheading ongoing professional development opportunities and work sessions, our coalition has forged a body of more than 1,200 confident and capable educators, librarians, and non-profit leaders who help schools customize and scale instructional models to meet the unique needs of their learning community. RI Jump$tart will continue to support districts and educators as they implement guaranteed access to personal finance programs beginning in the 2022 - 2023 academic year and the financial proficiency graduation requirement starting with the Class of 2024.

Community Mindedness
Since 2004, the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition has developed and fostered an ecosystem to advance the financial well-being of Rhode Island students and underserved populations. Each year, the RI Jump$tart Coalition hosts the Financial Capability Conference and workshops where educators, social-service providers, veterans, librarians, students, and parents who are passionate about educating others share resources and best practices to build financial knowledge and capability.

The annual RI Personal Finance and Economic Challenges provide teachers with an innovative way to enhance learning and inspire students to creatively and competitively engage with vital concepts. Recognizing the need for special focus on supporting students from our diverse urban and urban-ring districts, RI Jump$tart advanced a now national model of Access Zone Challenge opportunities to serve these unique communities.

RI Jump$tart is distinct in the ways we include students in our programming and advocacy. There is tremendous power creating the space for students to speak for themselves about the importance of financial literacy in their lives. We celebrate the accomplishments of our students through the RI Jump$tart’s annual awards ceremonies at the State House, which showcases students’ accomplishments.

JA Mission Moment
Recently, the Rhode Island Jump$tart coalition board participated in one of JA’s financial literacy programs. We got to see first-hand what other like-minded organizations are doing for our young people in Rhode Island, especially the underserved populations. These student interactions directly align with efforts and goals of the coalition. Our annual Finance and Economics Challenges have involved hundreds of middle and high school students, offering a team-based approach to learning financial concepts with an opportunity to engage with students at a national level. Often, we find that participants in these “Challenges” are involved with JA, thus creating a reinforcement of goals between our organizations from which the students benefit. In administering our summer personal finance workshop series (Financial Responsibility and Opportunity-Gain Seekers), we also find the same to be true amongst student participants. In directly promoting and teaching financial literacy concepts to students, Junior Achievement and RI Jump$tart are true coalition partners.