Chicago, Illinois--(Newsfile Corp. - May 6, 2022) - Rapunzl, the educational FinTech platform that allows students to earn while they learn with simulated, real-time investing competitions, has announced that it is partnering with the Chicago Sky and the Sky Cares Foundation to launch a series of financial literacy workshops with Dreams For Kids. The program will target high school students in underserved communities across Chicago and aims to create 100 new shareholders of color this summer.
Rapunzl
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The development comes as the need for more financial literacy in the public school system remains in the national spotlight. In 2018, almost 50% of high school seniors said that they wished they had learned some form of personal finance in school. A survey in 2016 conducted by Bank of America showed that only 31% of young Americans thought their high school education taught them healthy financial habits. In 2017, a study showed that almost 40% of retirement wealth inequality comes from differences in financial literacy. According to UW-Madison in 2010, less than 20% of teachers report that they are very competent when it comes to teaching financial literacy.
"While many states are attempting to address these issues by mandating that financial literacy be part of graduation requirements, cracks are emerging," says Brian Curcio, CEO and Co-Founder of Rapunzl. "With no national standards, course material has varied dramatically from state to state, and many educators are left with relatively little guidance. These problems are more acutely experienced in low-income, underserved communities where schools are frequently not provided the resources to effectively satisfy financial education mandates. These are just a few of the issues we are working to solve through our financial literacy workshops with Dreams For Kids and Sky Cares."
The program will work with students from the South and West Side of Chicago, ultimately leveraging Rapunzl's nationally recognized financial literacy curriculum to satisfy graduation requirements and connect students to influential members in financial services. The program will be hosted at Dreams For Kids' flagship highschool, GCE Lab School, located in downtown Chicago.
"These financial literacy workshops will allow students to manage a $10,000, real-time stock portfolio and enter this portfolio into simulated competitions against their peers," states the Board President of Dreams For Kids. "Students will develop an understanding of portfolio diversification, risk management, and the benefits of long-term investment strategies. This project-based approach will allow students to experience what it's like to invest and will award them a $100 funded custodial brokerage account."
Dreams For Kids adds that studies have shown that experiential learning increases student engagement, retention, and test scores, which is why they are working with Rapunzl to create a more realistic learning environment. Rapunzl has worked with Dreams For Kids since 2018 and offered financial education programs to high school students in over 500 schools across the country.
The program is supported by HSBC, KPMG, Ariel Investments and Morningstar with $25,000 in scholarships provided by the Sky Cares Foundation. Speakers will include John W. Rogers Jr., founder of Ariel Investments, the oldest minority-owned asset manager in the country; Tim Schwertfeger, former CEO of Nuveen; Melissa Conyears-Ervin, Chicago's City Treasurer; and over 30 volunteers from partnering institutions.
Rapunzl hopes that its financial literacy workshops will address the growing wealth gap in the United States. "According to a 2019 survey done by the Federal Reserve, White Americans had an average of 8 times the wealth of Black American Families - $188,200 and $24,100 respectively," the company's CEO, Brian Curcio says.
"Many advocates for financial literacy claim that a lack of financial understanding directly contributes to this racial wealth inequality. Through our program, we look forward to partnering with the Chicago Sky to help students know how to manage their finances and invest so that this disparity can be erased and more people can be confident about their futures."
Rapunzl is a free platform for people to earn while they learn about the world of investing. The company was founded to educate ordinary investors and help engage more people with financial markets. For more information about Rapunzl, please see https://www.rapunzlinvestments.com/ or contact:
Brian Curcio
+1-312-618-9956
brian@rapunzl.org
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