RICHMOND, 15 March 2016 – The Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE) is pleased that the City of Richmond is proclaiming April 20, 2016 as Talk With Our Kids About Money Day. Additionally, the Richmond School Board passed a motion to invite all schools in SD38 to have ‘money talks’ with students on this day; and, the Richmond Public Library will arrange various resources for families. Richmond has defined itself as a leader in financial education and a community ready to embrace new initiatives for children and families.

“The City of Richmond, the Richmond School Board, and the Richmond Public Library are demonstrating real leadership by promoting financial education to our young people,” said Gary Rabbior, President of the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education. ‘It’s through this kind of support that other communities and school boards across the country will come to recognize the importance of embracing financial education and the resulting opportunities for students to learn how to prepare for their financial futures”.

Talk With Our Kids about Money (TWOKAM) Day will launch in British Columbia on April 20, 2016 and continue as an annual event on the third Wednesday in April. In 2015, over 2,000 schools and 300,000 students participated in TWOKAM Day across eight provinces in Canada. TWOKAM Day is part of a comprehensive, sustainable plan to improve financial literacy outcomes for Canadians through a non-profit, non-partisan partnership model.

TWOKAM Day is free for all participants. The website features a plethora of resources for parents, families, and teachers. Teachers are encouraged to start the conversation at school on April 20^th and parents are encouraged to continue the conversation at home.

A recent report on the State of Financial Education in Canada found that there is no consistent or strategic approach to financial education. The report also found that it is possible for students to graduate from grade 12 without any financial education. Recommendations of the report include starting early and investing in teacher professional development.

Financial literacy includes important dimensions such as: financial decision making; savings and budgeting; careers, business, and entrepreneurship; credit, debt and loans; insurance, investing, and basic economics. British Columbia’s revised curriculum features financial literacy outcomes in math (K-12) and opportunities to explore money matters through inquiry based learning.

Highlights of the TWOKAM School Program:

• Easy-to-use, complete lesson plans for teachers that are cross-curricular and make it easy for teachers to integrate money topics into a broad range of subject areas including social studies, math, science, environmental studies, music and art
• Group discussion and debate ideas
• Resources and interactive tools for teachers
• Links to other resources and programs
• Links to background material on financial literacy and research results

Highlights of the TWOKAM Parent Program:

• Free online access to fun and engaging activities that are easy to do and confortably set up opportunities for parents to have a talk about money with their children, provoke their curiosity and stimulate questions that lead to learning
• Wide variety of actvities including movies to watch, books to read, songs to listen to, crafts to make, local trips to take, and more
• Helpful links and resources for parents including a variety of articles offering different views on allowances
• Resources are organized by child’s age range, for example age 5-7, 6-9, and so on up to the “Transition Years” when youth are moving out on their own

About CFEE

CFEE is a federally chartered, non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded in 1974, that works to improve economic and financial literacy and enterprising capability. CFEE works collaboratively with ministries and departments of education along with school boards, schools, educators, and teacher associations. CFEE also engages in activities to support and assist newcomers and past immigrants to Canada, and the general public including print resources, videos, workshops, and online resources. Overall, CFEE aspires to help Canadians of all ages be better prepared to undertake their economic roles, responsibilities, and decisions with confidence and competence.

Media Contacts:

Talk With Our Kids About Money Day – BC

Kumi Abercrombie, kabercrombie@cfee.org, Cell: (604) 839-2072

Canadian Foundation for Economic Education

Joseph Clark, jclark@cfee.org, (416) 893-8772 / (416) 968-2236