July 2, 2012

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch accepted a $15,000 Innovation Grant from The U.S. Conference of Mayors' DollarWI$E Campaign. The funds will be used to expand the city's high school financial literacy program to include all middle school students in Bridgeport. DollarWI$E visited Bridgeport to see first-hand its Financial Reality Fair, which hosts over 700 high school students from the city and surrounding communities in Fairfield County. High schools participate in mock sessions that seek to improve awareness of financial literacy and its importance.

During the Fair, Finch—flanked by President & CEO of the Credit Union League of Connecticut (CULCT) Dr. Anthony Emerson, President & CEO of the Personal Care America Federal Credit Union (PCAFCU) John Keet, and Bank of America Senior Vice-President Carol J. Heller—accepted a ceremonial check from DollarWI$E.

Bridgeport is an Innovation Grant 2012 winner. With Finch's strong support, and the city's many partnerships, the city seeks to expand the Financial Reality Fair to all middle- and high school students within the borders of Fairfield County. The Fair's focus is on low-income students in Bridgeport.

"Our plan to implement financial education strategies in the classroom will provide young people with a better understanding of how to properly manage their money. Grasping the importance of saving and making fiscally responsible decisions is especially critical to the young people of an urban population like Bridgeport," said Finch. "We are grateful to the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation for their support as we move forward with this initiative and continue our partnership with Personal Care America Federal Credit Union and the Credit Union League of Connecticut."

The city has committed to increasing the number of low-income students from the community who are served by the Financial Reality Fair. The DollarWI$E Innovation Grant will help reach that goal and The United States Conference of Mayors will spread the word to other mayors around the country about this innovative program in Bridgeport.

During the event, the area's high school students arrive in big waves of hundreds to play a very serious game of numbers and consequences. The whole project begins in the classrooms, where teachers assign their students the task of finding a career for themselves along with the yearly income for the job.

Then, teachers share the information with the CULCT and the PCAFCU to draw up a personalized form for each student. At the Financial Reality Fair, students are welcomed by a 15-minute orientation on the basics of their paychecks and credit score and then they spend the next two hours jumping among 14 booths representing major life expenses (i.e. housing, electronics, bank- and payday-lending, food, and part-time jobs among many others). There are also two "reality wheels," which can bless a student's budget with an overtime check or bust his or her bottom line with a crashed computer. The point is to teach students how to manage their earnings to pay for life's necessities while achieving their personal financial goals.

After two hours of painful decision-making and practical number crunching, the students move to a final table where the "game" is over and reality kicks in. At the final table, students meet a new set of volunteers who happen to be financial advisors in real life. These financial advisors take each student back through their choices and the costs associated with those choices.

Finch proclaimed the Financial Reality Fair a total success. In addition, while attending The United States Conference of Mayors' 80th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Finch got a chance to speak about Bridgeport's Financial Reality Fair to other mayors from around the nation, and encouraged all of them to take a closer look at what the Fair can do in their own communities. Finch also thanked Bank of America and its Charitable Foundation for the generous support it has given DollarWI$E since 2004 and for underwriting his City's $15,000 Innovation Grant.