Executive Summary

National Financial Literacy and Small Business Tour©

 by

National Council of Financial Education for Students and Consumers d/b/a

The National Council for Financial Literacy

501 (c) (3) charitable organization

 

 

www.ConsumerFinancialFacts.org

www.StudentFinancialEducation.org

 

10801 Johnston Road Suite 101 / 102

Charlotte, NC 28226

(704) 644 3180

 

 

 

 

The Mission of the National Council for Financial Literacy is:

To provide proactive, rather than passive, financial education programs for College Students and Adult Consumers, Small Businesses and aspiring Women/Minority Owned Entrepreneurs through enhanced delivery strategies of existing quality financial content. Our presentations are focused on topics that directly affect the ability of participants to function efficiently in basic daily financial situations and are customized to each audience.

 

The “Council” wishes to improve awareness of personal money management and credit concepts; to significantly improve the financial awareness in areas of daily financial stability and encourage asset building. We offer solutions and focus on topics that concern basic daily financial survival or simply, “Back to the Basics” of good money management.

 

The planned project will make use of a high profile “Tour Bus” vehicle to raise awareness and offer personalized presentations that offer solutions to our target audience.

 

Personalized presentations have been proven to be best form of delivery of information in order that questions can be answered immediately.  Further, we will fully utilize internet networking technology for the purpose of follow-up and continuing education.

 

National Financial Literacy and Small Business Tour – Our Focus and Goals

The very successful use of high profile “tour buses” has been documented over recent years, some of which are noted in the main proposal as well as in this summary.

Our project includes the use of a “wrapped RV” as an attractive backdrop to promote our message through aggressive media exposure to:

1.)    To raise awareness of financial literacy issues and bring solutions to college campuses and encourage student volunteerism and Community Service in programs such as the Learn and Serve America programs, and establish an ongoing volunteer corps to conduct peer to peer financial literacy counseling as well as conduct community outreach programs for K-12 Students and Adult Consumers.

 

2.)    To raise awareness and encourage aspiring and existing entrepreneurs to take advantage of economic stimulus programs offered by agencies such as the SBA, SCORE and any other economic development programs that are available in the community.

 

3.)    To raise awareness of Minority and Women Owned Business Owners and aspiring entrepreneurs to take advantage of programs available to them. Special efforts will made to reach out to local and Ethnic/International Chambers of Commerce

 

4.)    To raise awareness of financial literacy issues and bring solutions to consumers that affect daily decisions with a focus on financial fraud issues such as Identity Theft, Foreclosure Rescue Scams, Loss Mitigation, Credit Report issues and other consumer issues that are evolving from this crisis. Special attention will be brought to Senior Citizen scams. Finally, workplace financial literacy education will be encouraged.

In essence, our main goal is to provide accurate and credible financial literacy information to students and consumers and encourage volunteerism among College Students to participate in community outreach programs. 

The parallel focus of this tour will be  consumer protection presentations  related to financial issues, as well as addressing Small Business and Women/Minority Owned business issues. 

Our project strategy

The Council has planned a high profile, well publicized and high impact project named the “National Financial Literacy and Small Business Tour” which will travel Nationwide.

 

We will have an attractively “wrapped” RV which will not only draw attention to our presence, but will also provide an excellent backdrop for photo opportunities for local officials, college student organizations/staff and for media events.

 

The tour will travel to Colleges throughout the Nation with a parallel focus in Cities throughout the Country for media events/press conferences relative to small business and consumer issues.  In 2010 the National Council for Financial Literacy plans to visit college campuses throughout the United States and expects to train over 250,000 students in Financial Literacy issues by means of direct presentations, peer to peer participation and on campus CCTV programming.

 

Typically we will arrange appearances with Chambers of Commerce to address business issues; and with law enforcement agencies to address consumer protections issues. Any high attendance event will be considered, such as County Fairs, concerts, race events, sporting events, etc.

 

We will reach out by every means possible to maximize attendance of our events and workshops and will coordinate with local agency destination contacts and notify local political offices for additional support and exposure. 

 

Based on the Sallie Mae tour and the Jaycees tour mentioned later in this summary, we expect over 50 million media impressions and over 1,000 press conferences during the first year.

 

The vehicle and staff will be available from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. for presentations and media events. Arrangements can be made to accommodate weekend and after hours media events, as well as photo opportunities as requested.

 

We expect to make at least 3 presentations and/or media stops daily, depending on scheduling and destination proximity.

 

This topic is in high demand, consumer friendly, non-controversial, very timely and our efforts should be welcome by all regardless of political affiliation.

 

Each State, County or District typically has a financial literacy and/or consumer advocate, either political or authoritative, and we will turn to them to enhance media coverage and promotion in their respective States and Districts.

 

Similar projects have been developed throughout the Nation, but this project is planned to be a long lived Nationwide program with multiple vehicles. We hope not only to bring awareness and solutions to the various issues, but enhance the efforts of various agencies on a local level to maximize the results of their respective programs through additional exposure.

 

Statement of Need and Research Findings

(Referenced is a 2008 study which is the most recent)

 

“College students have a failing grade with respect to financial literacy, although they fair much better than high school students. The mean score for all college students was 61.9 percent compared with just 48.3 percent (the lowest level ever) for high school seniors. Scores ranged from 59.3 percent for college freshmen to 64.8 percent for college seniors.”

The mean score for all college students was 61.9 percent (failing) compared with just 48.3 percent (the lowest level ever) for high school seniors.

 

 

 

 

 

The study further states: “The bad news is that just 25 percent of our young adults are graduating from college. This means that 75 percent of young American adults are likely to lack the skills needed to make beneficial financial decisions.” The above results are from a study performed by Lewis Mandell, Ph.D.; THE FINANCIAL LITERACY OF YOUNG AMERICAN ADULTS - Results of the 2008 National Jump$tart Coalition Survey of High School and College Students

 

Essentially, this study shows that most past programs were not effective, and in fact, continued reliance on passive internet programs is being seen as being extremely ineffective.

Benefits for Sponsors

 

The Council respectfully requests a grant to support the project for the initial year of operation. Each sponsor will have category exclusivity.

 

1.)    Brand name on our Vehicle

2.)    Branding on a newly developed website with links to sponsor’s home page

3.)    Branding on distributed promotional material at presentations

4.)    Opportunities for company representatives/agents to participate in presentations

5.)    Photo opportunities at sponsor locations or corporate locations

6.)    Mention in press releases. (Press releases will be distributed on a twice weekly basis to announce our itinerary.)

 

Evaluations and expected outcomes

 

The impact of our presentations will be evaluated extensively with surveys performed before and after presentations.

 

A control questionnaire will be distributed before each presentation, followed up by an “after session” questionnaire for feedback and to establish effectiveness and comprehension of concepts reviewed.

 

Following the presentations, in order to ensure that the students continue to receive the support and education they need to continue volunteer efforts, they will be ushered into an ongoing program of support through internet and social networking programs, as well as being mentored by campus personnel.

 

 

All participants will be asked to sign up for online updates and will receive information on a regular basis, but can opt out of the follow up program at any time.

 

Partnerships will be formed with College representatives, as well as community and business leaders in order that we can support on campus activities and services as needed.

The long-term impact of the Council will be measured with regular electronic surveys to track the progress of volunteer efforts with respect to on campus peer counseling and as well as their levels of community outreach involvement.

Based on results from previous programs, the Council expects to see the following outcomes:

Participation in Arizona programs increase participants’ knowledge of personal financial issues by 34%, which has not been attainable by use of internet programs alone.

Consumer/Students contact lists in the form of email databases will be developed for regular financial literacy advisories, with an “opt-out” feature. Available networking technology will also be used for reminder follow up and as a base for commonly asked questions.

Results of past efforts

 

Three notable volunteer projects are the Master of Accounting (MAC) program at the North Carolina State University College of Management’s Jenkins Graduate School of Management which has approximately 55 students that participate in community programs in TRIAD area of North Carolina.  The MAC program has been in existence for only 1 year and has been very successful.  The program has been well received and is now approved for college credit hours. The volunteer students hold peer to peer counseling sessions and are now holding community outreach sessions. This program has support from the North Carolina Association of CPA’s as well as the AICPA and has expanded.

 

The second program is the “Red to Black” personal financial literacy program at Texas Tech University.  This program is very successful with peer to peer advice, as well as assisting the needs of university staff.  The volunteers are typically undergraduate and PhD. Candidates. It has personalized counseling sessions for students and University staff 11 months of the year. The program started in 2006 and offers advice on personal financial management. It is considered very successful and has gained the recognition of the US treasury as a model for peer to peer counseling.

 

 

The third and most impressive program is on the University of Arizona where students are “Financial Education Ambassadors”.  With only 13 students, the program is very active and has had a direct impact of over 11,000 youth and adults in the Tucson community since the year 2000. Participants of the workshops increased their knowledge of personal finance by more than 34%, which far surpasses the ratio with passive on-line programs.

 

We expect that our results would be similar and hopefully better than those in Arizona.

Participation in the Arizona program increased participants’ knowledge of personal financial issues by 34%

Small Business Development and Consumer Protection Strategy

Consumer protection agencies and law enforcement currently have programs in place to address the typical issues, but we feel that we can contribute to their efforts with the use of our vehicle as a media backdrop for high profile press conferences.  While in a college destination locality, we will encourage local officials to broadcast their efforts with advisories on consumer issues. It is hoped that our vehicles’ presence would be a draw for press conferences.

Small business development issues will also be addressed in the same manner at each destination, coordinated with local Chambers of Commerce, including ethnic Chambers and other business organizations.  We will coordinate activities with area SBA and SCORE representatives to promote their programs. Special attention will be brought to programs for Women/Minority Owned businesses.

Conclusion and Final Points

We will offer updated financial solutions to Students, Consumers and Small Businesses via personalized presentations and encourage volunteerism among College Students and Adults to participate in community outreach programs.

Past projects show that high profile bus tours raise awareness to the issues with an inviting presence.

 

The tour provides a consumer and business friendly platform and we expect full support of our efforts which will make this project successful. If past performance of previous tours is any indication of success, the planned project will exceed all projections due to the current needs.

This topic is in high demand, consumer friendly, non-controversial, very timely and our efforts should be welcome by all regardless of political affiliation.

Addressing the stated issues in total with one aggressive organized effort, affords the opportunity to bring attention to the issues and join them together in this unique project in a cost effective manner. If addressed individually, the issues of financial literacy, student/adult volunteerism, small business issues, consumer issues and minority/women business development would not have a cost effective method of dissemination. 

This is a “turn key project”, as no new materials will have to be developed and therefore we can focus on presentation and delivery of existing material and media promotion.

We have extracted the best of similar programs and have designed this project to be high profile, with a high impact to our target audience.

We expect extreme media coverage and exposure with the help of local contacts; past tours have been extremely successful and highly visible in this respect. Similar tours have received ample media coverage even though they covered fewer topics.

We are prepared to expedite this program, if an RV vehicle can be obtained and wrapped, to be on the road within 60 days of final funding.

 

 

 

Organizations and Agencies expected to benefit from this project

The benefits to agencies and organizations that align with us will be promotion of their respective programs.

Commercial sponsors will benefit from obvious “branding” opportunities and association with our mission.

The following are the organizations and agencies that we will attempt to align with and will benefit from our events as we visit each area:

The following are the organizations and agencies that we will attempt to align with and will benefit from our events as we visit each area:

 

Financial literacy organizations                                     Learn and Serve representatives

Consumer Financial Protection Agencies                     SBA, SCORE representatives
(Local and Federal)

Federal Reserve Board                                               FDIC & SIPC

Federal Trade Commission                                         Minority/Women Business organizations 
                                  (Federal/Local agencies)                    

SALLIE MAE                                                           Americorps

Local economic development agencies                       Chambers of Commerce (US,Local,State)

Better Business Bureaus                                            Local Bank organizations

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants     (Attorneys) State Bar Associations

Social Security Administration                                    AARP

Life Insurance Groups                                                Retirement/Estate Planning Groups

National Flood Insurance Program (FEMA)              FEMA (Citizen Corps) Volunteers

College Savings Plan Network (529 plans)                USPS (Small Business Division)       

Local and Federal Law enforcement (Consumer Scams and Fraud issues)

 

 

 

This is a prime opportunity to enhance efforts of Federal, State and local agency representatives for increased production. We invite any other financial literacy advocates to join us in this National promotion.

 

Similar projects that have been very successful are:

 

 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Vote for Business Tour” started in 2006 and resumed again in 2008 with three (3) buses. The tour focused on voter registration with a high intensity tour that ended with the elections. It was very successful and is expected to resume for the next election. http://www.uschamber.com/issues/elections/bus/default

 

“Your Money Bus”   www.yourmoneybus.com  was organized by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) Consumer Education Foundation (NCEF), traveled to over 75 cities and covered over 14,000 miles across the Nation in one year. This tour was considered very successful in that it identified and addressed financial concerns of the public. This vehicle is planned to resume in the Fall 2009 and was used to promote NAPFA Agents with the support of Kiplinger’s and Ameritrade as its only partners. The tour purportedly promoted financial literacy, but featured investment advice by members of that professional organization. This tour will resume in the Fall of 2009 because of its success with consumers.

 

The “Help is Here Express” is sponsored by the Partnership for Prescription Assistance Program was launched in April 5, 2005.  This tour is one of the widely promoted tours and has been very successful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs30LaXBQ-k&feature=related

This program has thus far helped almost 6 million people with awareness of patient assistance programs that provide low cost or no cost prescription medication. http://www.google.com/search?q=help+is+here+express+bus&btnG=Search&hl=en&sa=2

 

The John Lennon Educational (Music focused) Tour Bus has been on the road since 1998 and travels Nationwide. http://www.lennonbus.org/about_the_bus   The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus provides free hands-on programs to hundreds of high schools, colleges, Boys and Girls Clubs, music festivals, concerts, conventions and community organizations.  This vehicle promotes the musical and broadcasting arts. It is very successful and the tour is the longest running bus tour project we could find.

The Sallie Mae Fund’s Paying for College Bus Tour is the second longest most successful Bus Tour that we could find. It was on the road from 2004 to 2008. http://www.thesalliemaefund.org/smfnew/initiatives/road.html  The purpose of the tour was to create awareness of the various financial programs available to students to pay for college.  The tour was considered very successful since there was a dramatic increase in the number of families that felt they could now afford to pay for college. The Sallie Mae Bus is currently getting calls for appearances even though it has been off the road for the last year. 50 Million media impressions were accounted for on this tour. We suspect that demand for our bus will be higher due to the number of issues being addressed.

Junior Achievement Mobile Finance Park http://www.ja.org/about/about_news_video_mfpeducators.shtml  Financial Education for High School students. These are mobile trailers outfitted to educate students in financial literacy. It is transported to areas as needed by Junior Achievement in conjunction with its financial literacy programs. It is considered very successful, even though it is limited in geographic scope and focuses on Middle School students.

 

Finally the “Jaycees” had a “Wake Up America” Bus Tour starting in 1996. It was planned to be a one year tour, but it was so successful, it was extended to 2 years.  During that period they held 3,500 press conferences. This was verified with the National office.

 

 
The use of high profile vehicles as a media and photo backdrop has been proven to be an impressionable and successful branding strategy in bringing attention to the message and subsequently the sponsors.

 

We expect our tour to easily surpass prior tour media numbers since our tour will have a wider scope of target demographic, the recession concerns everyone, and credible information is in high demand.  The internet will be utilized via networking for promotional support, follow up and continuing education with respect to updates on Financial Literacy and Consumer Protection issues.