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Treasurer Fitch Highlights Successes of TEAM, Kicks off New School Year at Germantown High School
Speaking at Germantown High School in Madison County, State Treasurer Lynn Fitch highlighted the successes of the Treasurer’s Education About Money (TEAM) initiative which started in August of 2014. While touting past successes, Treasurer Fitch kicked off the 2015-2016 school year with the hope to continue to grow the financial literacy initiative by making personal finance education resources available to every high school student across the state.
The Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi had previously funded a financial literacy initiative, reaching more than 18,000 Mississippi students in over 100 high schools in the three years before Treasurer Fitch launched TEAM. Treasurer Fitch worked with the Foundation to build off their successful efforts. The average increase in financial awareness after completing the modules was over 40% in the schools reached by the Foundation’s funding. In the 2013-14 school year, the year leading up to the launch of TEAM, the program reached 6,900 students in 72 schools, actively using a financial literacy program powered by EverFi.
For the TEAM rollout, Treasurer Fitch partnered with both EverFi and the Mississippi Council for Economic Education (MCEE) to provide enhanced training to teachers. During the inaugural 2014-2015 school year, TEAM has been expanded to reach over 230 participating schools, with over 19,000 students completing the EverFi program. In this past school year alone, students completed approximately 46,000 hours of financial learning and increased financial awareness after completing the EverFi modules by an average of 91%.
“I am thrilled to see how much of an impact we’ve already been able to make with TEAM,” stated Treasurer Fitch at the Germantown High student assembly. “Through teamwork between my staff and our TEAM members, including EverFi and the Mississippi Council for Economic Education, we have been able to make such an impact in these students’ lives.”
“With the help of MCEE, we’ve been able to train 358 teachers who will in turn reach 35,800 students,” said Treasurer Fitch. “Giving the teachers the proper training will help build a sustainable foundation for the future of TEAM.”
Just yesterday, Treasurer Fitch hosted a TEAM steering committee meeting to discuss the successes of the past school year as well as ways to continue to grow financial literacy efforts. MCEE has contributed by recently hiring a TEAM Coordinator to plan enhanced teacher training and facilitate financial literacy initiatives.
“Our work isn’t over yet,” Treasurer Fitch continued. “Our goal is to make this program available in every school across the state. We won’t stop working on financial literacy until we change Mississippi’s financial culture.”
