Operation HOPE’s FIVE MILLION KIDS Initiative: PricewaterhouseCoopers TEACHES FINANCE AT ST. ANGELA

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the giant accounting firm and financial managers, are teaming up with Operation HOPE’s Five Million Kids campaign to break the rate of the high school dropout epidemic by teaching young people how to financially prosper in life. Alarming research reveals that K-12 students across the country lack proficiency in math and financial literacy.

    PwC sent 20 financial interns each to St. Angela School, 1332 North Massasoit Avenue, and St. Catherine-St. Lucy School, Washington Boulevard at Austin Boulevard in Oak Park, to conduct hands-on classroom workshops with students, introducing them to financial concepts of saving, investing, budgeting, and banking. Operation HOPE has created an educational program called Banking On Our Future. The classes start with A Course in Dignity. It goes on to teach the basics of banking and budgeting, explanations of saving and checking accounts, a chapter on credit and its wise use, and an introduction to basic investing.

    Students in grades 4-8 were instructed in the working principles of personal finance, banking, and household budgeting. Then, they were given group assignments to put to use what they learned in real life situations.