Description and History
Money Smart Week is a national public education program coordinated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago that empowers people with the knowledge and skills to make better-informed personal financial decisions.
Money Smart Week began in 2002 as a coordinated effort of more than 40 Chicago-area organizations working together to promote financial literacy. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago convened these members to share resources and ideas to achieve greater public awareness of the programs and services available in the city of Chicago.
Professional Learning Resources
Over 20 states have financial literacy requirements for high school students. Educators may or may not have had their own financial literacy learning experiences. Jump$tart offers online modules for educators to pursue their own professional learning.
Money Smart Week events for 2023 include webinars about family budgeting, debt relief, and employer retirement benefits. The webinar about family budgeting is also offered in Spanish.
Learner Engagement Resources
The FDIC Money Smart landing page offers articles, videos, and resources including 14 gamified learning modules. Students can earn certificates for their work in areas such as income and expenses, managing debt, or protecting identity.
The Consumer Protection Financial Bureau offers many resources, including ones intended for caregivers on their Money as you Grow page. These resources and activities can be shared with families in school newsletters, family nights, or modified for classroom resources. On their page for educators, there is a sidebar filter to narrow down their bank of resources to the ones you need for the classroom.
In several states, financial literacy programs are available for students. In Virginia, one program is the Reading Makes Cents program which integrates picture books with financial literacy. The program encourages reading current picture books throughout the year. Each year three featured books are chosen and lesson plans are available for each. The collection of past lessons remains available.
EconEdLink from the Council of Economics Education provides resources, videos, articles, lessons, and interactive activities that are great to share with teachers. Resources are available for all ages in this easy to navigate platform.
EVERFI provides a financial literacy curriculum through interactive online learning modules. The program requires registration and is free to K-12 educators. Many schools have integrated EVERFI into their school’s suite of learning resources and students can access the modules through a single sign on process.