By Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier staff writer
With Ohio fifth in the number of foreclosures and eighth in the number of bankruptcies nationwide, the state's credit unions are taking a crack at educating young Ohioans on spending responsibly and saving money.
The Ohio Credit Union League, Kent Credit Union and Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent announced Tuesday the launch of MoneyAndStuff, a free financial education initiative that offers lesson plans and Web-based tools to help students "grab hold of your future," according to the tagline for the program.
The Ohio General Assembly has mandated a financial education curriculum be in place in Ohio's public high schools by 2010, said State Sen. Tom Sawyer, who represents portions of Portage and Summit counties and was on hand Tuesday to help launch the initiative.
Ohio's high number of foreclosures and bankruptcies are "something that really ought to catch our attention," he said, because they show some Ohioans have "lost control of their personal finances" through overspending, credit card debt, borrowing and predatory payday lending cycles.
Joe Crawfis, CEO of Kent Credit Union, said the credit union has a working relationship with Roosevelt High School and the Kent school district to teach basic personal finance, and MoneyAndStuff will only build a "stronger partnership."
Target groups for the initiative are students in grades 4, 5, 11 and 12, but parents and other adults also may benefit from the "comprehensive approach to teaching money management," said Patrick Harris, director of media relations for the Ohio Credit Union League. Print and broadcast advertising for MoneyAndStuff will begin next year, the organization said.
The initiative's Web site, www.MoneyAndStuff.info, provides tips for saving money, games for students to play where they have to maintain a budget while shopping at the mall or match up like-priced items, and teaches credit concepts, interest, borrowing, investing and saving for the future through downloadable budget sheets and lesson plans.
The educational tools of MoneyAndStuff will keep students from getting into a personal financial crisis and is a "cost-effective way of dealing with the debt cycle for students, teachers and parents" so they can become "smart savers and smart borrowers," Sawyer said.
"The work we're doing is not going to be over in a year or two," he said. "It goes on from one generation to the next."