By Susan A. Baird
PBN Web Editor
PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition, an education and policy group dedicated to improving financial literacy in the state, reported $89,414 in expenses and obligations for 2007 against $90,378 in income.
The nonprofit reported an operating balance of $191 at the end of 2007, down from $227 at the beginning of the year.
Expenditures totaled $69,215, Jump$tart said: $23,314 in operating expenses, $35,901 in program costs and $10,000 for research. Obligations outstanding at the year’s end amounted to another $20,199, of which $100 were from operations and the remainder from programming.
Operating income totaled $23,378 while program income amounted to $47,000, while the nonprofit also reported $9,000 in pledges outstanding, Jump$tart said.
“We continue to make significant progress in each of our key initiative areas,” President Claudia M. Kerbel wrote in the report.
Highlights of the year included the launch of the Rhode Island Financial High School, a statewide initiative to teach 11th- and 12th-graders about personal finance, focusing on real-world money skills and highlighting the importance of budgeting and saving. The Ri-Fi High pilot “was very popular with students and educators alike,” the nonprofit said. (READ MORE)
Together with Visa, the Rhode Island coalition helped develop a Financial Football game. The project, which grew to including other Jump$tart coalitions and the treasurers of all six New England states, distributed the game to all high schools in the region.
Last year also saw the launch of the R.I. Joint Legislative Commission to Study Youth Financial Coalition in Rhode Island Middle and High Schools, a 15-member panel established by the General Assembly. Jim Hedemark, the coalition’s executive director, addressed the panel’s inaugural meeting in November.
The panel met in December at Jump$tart’s third statewide conference for educators. The educators’ conference itself, at the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus, drew 80 attendees.
For the third year, the coalition arranged for a high-ranking U.S. Treasury official to visit the state on “Get Smart About Credit Day.” This year’s visitor – Rhode Island native David G. Nason, the Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial institutions – gave presentations for students at Chariho High School and URI deans, professors and students.
Also in its third year was Jump$tart’s “MarchSmartness” consumer quiz show challenge. The winner of the state event goes on to compete in the nationwide LifeSmarts challenge; Barrington High’s “Eagle Einstein” team represented the Ocean State last April in Orlando.
In addition, for the second year, the coalition helped coordinate the involvement of a local high school team in the Reserve Cup, a financial literacy competition at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The Rhode Island teens, from North Providence High School, won the six-state challenge. (READ MORE)
The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition, founded in 2004, is an alliance of dozens of state and regional businesses, community organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies and officers. Its mission is to increase the level of financial literacy in the Ocean State. To learn more, visit www.RIJumpStart.org.
