New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, New York Metropolis Division of Shopper and Employee Safety (DCWP) Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga, and New York Metropolis Public Faculties Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos unveiled key particulars of the Adams administration’s “Financial Literacy for Youth” (FLY) initiative.
Photograph: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Images Workplace
Mayor Eric Adams introduced on Wednesday a monetary literacy curriculum for New York Metropolis public faculties.
This system, titled the Monetary Literacy for Youth (FLY) initiative, will carry a pilot program to fifteen faculty districts within the upcoming 2025-26 tutorial yr, with plans to unfold this system to each faculty by 2030. Monetary educators will present free counseling and workshops to college students and households, in addition to create classroom sources, based on a press launch from the mayor’s workplace.
Adams mentioned in a press release that faculties at the moment don’t adequately put together college students for real-world funds.
“Too many students leave high school knowing about chemical bonds but not Treasury Bonds; they learn how to do complex calculus but not how to do their taxes — that ends with our administration,” Adams mentioned. “To succeed in the 21st century, students need to learn how to do both.”
“This time next year, when students in these 15 districts have a question about opening a bank account or buying their first stock, they’ll have a valuable new tool to use,” Adams added.
This system will embody coaching, counseling and workshops, in addition to an in-school banking simulation for college kids. The town will supply educators from present partnerships with monetary empowerment facilities, Vilda Vera Mayuga, commissioner of the NYC Division of Shopper and Employee Safety, mentioned in a press convention saying this system.
“The best way to set our children up for financial success is to prevent them from making the same financial mistakes that we’ve all made in our lives, but for too long, young people have been left out of our efforts to financially empower New Yorkers,” Vera Mayuga mentioned in a press release.
The pilot cohort will contain six faculty districts within the Bronx, 4 in Brooklyn, three in Manhattan, and one every on Staten Island and in Queens. The town chosen the 15 pilot faculty districts partially primarily based on excessive charges of unbanked neighborhoods, that means areas with restricted monetary sources and establishments.
Adams first introduced his plans for a metropolis monetary literacy curriculum in his State of the Metropolis handle in January, constructing on the restricted curriculum provided as a part of the FutureReadyNYC excessive faculties program, which focuses on making ready college students early for careers and better training.
This system comes at a time of excessive state and metropolis assist for monetary literacy campaigns, significantly because the New York State Division of Training considers together with monetary literacy as a requirement for commencement. Metropolis Comptroller candidate Mark Levine has additionally advocated for a monetary literacy curriculum in center and excessive faculties.
NYC Public Faculties Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos mentioned in a press release that this system will complement faculties’ choices and assist assist college students with long-term abilities after commencement.
“Financial literacy is a fundamental life skill that sets our students up for success,” Aviles-Ramos mentioned. “Programs like ‘FLY’ will equip our students with the knowledge to make informed decisions about saving, spending, and investing, helping them become confident in making financial decisions.”
