Visit marks Jump$tart Coalition anniversary

PROVIDENCE – Laura Levine of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy and national executive director of the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy visited local schools yesterday to mark the fifth anniversary of the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition.
RI Jump$tart Coalition President Charles Kelley said, “We are honored that Laura [helped] us celebrate the partnerships and progress of our past five years, underscore the financial literacy ‘call to action’ of today’s troubled economy and share a national vision for the personal financial futures of our students,” said Kelley said.
RI Jump$tart Coalition Executive Director Jim Hedemark said, “We are proud that our national director chairs the President’s Council’s Youth Committee and of the straightforward advice the council has provided [President Barack Obama].”
The 15-member President’s Advisory Council, chaired by Charles Schwab, issued its first report to Obama in January. The council’s first recommendation was for Congress and state legislatures to mandate financial education for students in kindergarten through grade 12.
The RI Jump$tart Coalition noted that, unlike other states, Rhode Island has no such mandate. Despite joint resolutions from the General Assembly urging the R.I. Department of Education to create a task force to develop “a statewide strategy, action plan and marketing plan for increasing middle and high school students’ knowledge of personal financial literacy,” no task force has been formed by the department.
Levine visited North Providence High School and Central High School in Providence – two of the 10 high schools participating in the RI Jump$tart Coalition’s year-long Youth Personal Financial Education Expansion Project.