In celebration of Financial Literacy Month, Girl Scouts of
the USA and Girls’ Inc. hosted a Capitol Hill lunch briefing on April 29. The
event raised awareness of after-school and community-based programs that help
girls learn money management in real-world, practical settings. Congresswoman
Sheila Jackson Lee spoke at the event, which had Girl Scouts and girls from
Girls’ Inc. in attendance, to remind the young women of the importance of being
a well-informed consumer and citizen.
Specifically, the panel spoke to the importance of and their
organizations’ contribution to girls’ financial literacy. Erinn, a Gold Award
recipient from Girl Scout Council of Nation’s Capital spoke of her project
helping teens with autism achieve financial skills, while Brigid Howe, staff from
the council, described the financial fitness challenge that reached 25,000
girls last year in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Tyhler Raye of EverFi highlighted their new-media learning
platform that uses the latest technology – video, animations, 3-D gaming,
avatars, and social networking – to bring complex financial concepts to life
for students. Krystal Cason,
Program Manager, and Bianca, high school senior and girl member, from Girls
Inc. of New York City, described how
they help girls develop skills critical to becoming financially savvy,
economically independent adults, including a partnership with the Voya
Foundation where teen girls build and manage diversified, real-time portfolios
as part of an integrated investment- and economic-literacy curriculum.
The world’s current economic challenges have made one thing
clear: Financial literacy skills matter
now more than ever. Girls especially
need to learn the basics of money management.
A higher percentage of girls are attending college and must find ways to
underwrite their college education.
Additionally, most women live longer and earn less than men, single
women are more likely to become first-time homeowners than single men, and more
women are responsible for their own financial self-sufficiency at some point in
their lives.
According to Having It All: Girls and Financial Literacy, by the Girl Scout Research Institute, girls feel optimistic about their financial futures, yet are less than fully knowledgeable about essential financial principles and instruments, from using credit cards to establishing good credit. And just 12 percent of the girls surveyed say they feel confident in making financial decisions.