State program helps children learn financial responsibility

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- April is Financial Literacy Month, and the Ohio Department of Commerce wants to help organizations that teach children about money.  

The department is offering an annual grant designed to support various financial literacy education programs. 

The easiest way to describe financial literacy is having a good understanding of your money; yet, experts cite studies showing that 75% of teens lack confidence in their financial knowledge.

“If you don't have the foundation of financial literacy, you don't have that foundation to make good decisions,” Ohio Department of Commerce Consumer Affairs Manager Kenyetta Bagby said.  

Every year since 2008, the state’s commerce department has handed out $50,000 to multiple organizations across Ohio through the Financial Literacy Grant Program.

“We want to make sure that Ohioans have the tools that they need to make good decisions so that they can grow and keep more of their wealth,” Bagby said. 

One organization benefiting from the grant is Connexion West in Lancaster, whose mission is to help individuals and families learn the fundamental tools for generational financial change.

“We really want to set them up for success when they get out in the real world,” Connexion West Youth Education Coordinator Jena Cook said.  

The money Connexion West was awarded helped cover the cost of buying the necessary materials to teach children about financial literacy. The money left over was used to give students a real-life experience on how to save and spend their money. 

“We kind of made a store, a cash job system, like if you participate every day, you get ‘X’ amount of dollars. If you go above and beyond in different aspects of the program, we’ll give you another $100,” Cook said. “At the end of the week, you can go to the store or you can save and incur interest.” 

Ohio law requires every student entering the ninth grade to earn one-half credit of financial education as part of the state’s graduation requirements, but experts said that’s not enough. 

“It's just one class that they have to take when they're so much more that they can learn for financial literacy,” Bagby said. “When you have an example to follow, when you have the foundation of financial literacy, decision making becomes easier.” 

Bagby says there’s a lot of benefits to learning about financial literacy at a young age. 

“You know the ins and outs of what you have in terms of what's in your bank account or what income you have coming in. You can make decisions based on that information,” she said. “When we think about what they have to deal with in terms of bills, household incomes, the things that we as adults deal with on a regular basis, if you don't have that financial foundation that you need, then you tend to make poor decisions. You tend to stay in that cycle of always having to borrow.”

According to the American Institutes for Research, financial literacy skills include the ability to find, understand, and use resources and information to help you make informed decisions about your personal finances. 

If you’re an organization that helps the youth or adults with financial literacy and would like to apply for the Financial Literacy Grant, you can do so by clicking here. The deadline to apply is the end of the month.