Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin speaks on the Financial Freedom Project on Sept. 27, 2022.
The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved a $1 million financial literacy program that will be offered to students at Birmingham City Schools that will coach them on bank accounts, stocks and saving.
“We’re giving our students a gift – financial freedom,” said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, who included the $1 million allocation as part of his proposed budget earlier this year.
The city has joined in a partnership with IMC Financial Consulting, which will teach financial workshops and lead personal finance consulting sessions, and Goalsetter, which has an app that students will be able to download to access bank and investment accounts.
“We’ll be able to provide the information around budgeting, cash flow, financial psychology, credit, all the different life experiences,” said Isaac Cooper, CEO of ICM Financial Consulting.
The pilot phase will launch in October at six Birmingham schools: Jackson-Olin High School, Carver High School, South Hampton K-8 School, Hudson K-8 School, Sun Valley Elementary School and Robinson Elementary School.
“Me as a young student, I was taught about math, I was taught about reading, I was taught about social studies and science,” Woodfin said. “What I was not taught about was financial literacy. That was something I had to acquire on my own… We want better for our children.”
Woodfin said he hoped the program would help do away with predatory lenders.
“It is my desire to put them out of business,” Woodfin said.
Education on the importance of good credit and the danger of high-interest loans is a step toward that, he said.
The average credit score for a resident of Birmingham is 597, 78 points lower than the national average, Woodfin said.
The Goalsetter Foundation will donate stock to Birmingham students, which will be provided by its partner companies including Nike, Delta, Twitter, Lyft, HP and Comcast. Goalsetter will provide 5,000 bank and investment accounts for students, faculty and staff at the pilot schools, with $250,000 worth of donated stock to be placed in investment accounts.
The Goalsetter app provides financial instruction including videos narrated by actor Anthony Anderson, star of the TV show “Black-ish.”
Being a pioneer in financial literacy fits in with Birmingham’s civil rights tradition, said Tanya Van Court, CEO of Goalsetter.
“We truly believe this to be a civil right,” she said.
For more information on BHM Financial Freedom Project, visit www.BHMFinancialFreedomProject.com.
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