North Carolina Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy

First convened in 1995, the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy determined that the average student who graduates from high school lacks basic skills in the management of personal financial affairs. Many are unable to balance a checkbook and most simply have no insight into the basic survival principles involved with earning, spending, saving, and investing.

An offshoot of the national initiative, the North Carolina Jump$tart Coalition is comprised of individuals, nonprofits, governmental agencies, the corporate sector, and educators who have joined together to improve the personal financial literacy of North Carolina's youth.

The Coalition’s direct objective is to encourage curriculum enrichment to ensure that basic personal financial management skills are attained during the K-12 educational experience. The wheels of education do not need to be reinvented, they simply require balance.

How members can get involved:

1. Members with kids in school should contact their PTA, teachers, principals, and legislators to:

a) Urge them to make personal finance a higher priority in K-12 curriculum.

b) Direct teachers to the North Carolina Jump$tart website, www.ncjumpstart.org, where they can find a clearinghouse of canned materials, lesson plans, and activities they can use with their students. (It’s imperative that teachers see this as SAVING them time, rather than creating more work.)

2. Volunteer to speak to students in your area on personal finance or contact us to arrange for an Ambassador to make a presentation at a local school. All of the prep work is done for you--presentation materials and handouts are available to all NCACPA members who volunteer.