A Publication of the National Endowment for Financial Education®

Nefe D i g e s tJuly/August 2010

Managing money didn’t mean much to high school sophomore Guadalupe Diaz until her parents split up, and money suddenly became a focus for the family. “We had

to figure out how much [we needed] for groceries, how much for the house bill and we had to just cut down on everything,” she says.

Continued on page 2

Covering the Recovery (Page 3)Director of High School Program Retires (Page 4)

NEFE Welcomes New Director of Education (Page 5)

NEFE Program Anchors

Chicago Public Schools Pilot

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“Money changes a lot of things for children,” says Arlette Harris, a teacher at Kennedy High School on the west side of Chicago. This spring, Harris taught Diaz and her classmates, many of whom come from economically challenged families, in a new financial literacy course piloted by Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and supported by the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®).

“To me this is introducing them to life, to being adult, to living a little wisely, and being prepared for the future, not just tomorrow,” says Harris.

Noticeable ChangesAt Kennedy, Diaz — a student previously identified as at-

risk for graduating — has made strides academically. “In this school year alone she’s [Diaz] raised her GPA significantly,” says Harris. “If the students make adjustments now for their future I’m happy, and the curriculum is working.”

For one lesson, Harris had her students create career brochures that got them thinking about what they wanted to do with their lives. “When you pull in an aspect of a child’s future, looking at different careers, they really begin to get an

Chicago Public Schools Pilot Program continued from page 1

A New ApproachBefore graduating high school, Illinois students must take a

consumer education course, which typically includes a section on managing money. In the CPS system, that curriculum differed widely from school to school, so administrators decided to search for a better solution.

“We identified it [financial education] as a need of students across the district—this is real-life, real-world knowledge kids can use,” says Marty Moe, co-director of CPS’ Office of Social Science and Service Learning.

CPS held focus groups with teachers to find out what stu-dents really needed to know and then matched teacher feed-back to existing financial literacy programs for young adults. CPS chose to blend curricula from the Council for Economic Education (CEE) and NEFE’s High School Financial Planning Program® (HSFPP), which covers budgeting, saving and invest-ing, credit and managing debt, insurance, and career planning.

In February, CPS piloted the new curriculum at 12 schools in the district. And after one semester, the schools already are seeing an impact.

idea of what kind of lifestyle that career would or wouldn’t afford them,” says Harris.

Diaz now wants to be a doctor. “I told my dad I had this class and he explained to me how

when I was born, he made only four-something an hour, so he had to get two jobs and we barely made the rent,” says Diaz. “That encouraged me to be a pediatrician because when I have kids, I want to give them something. I want to be a good example to them.”

John Parfrey, director of the HSFPP, sees Diaz’s actions as the type the HSFPP is designed to produce. “Being financially literate doesn’t guarantee you’ll be rich or free from financial challenges,” says Parfrey. “But we are teaching kids how to deal with those challenges.”

See more: For a sneak peek inside Harris’ Kennedy classroom, watch the video at www.nefe.org/nefenews/cpsvideo.

Guadalupe Diaz’s career brochure details why she wants to be a pediatrician.

Arlette Harris takes a closer look at Oscar Jaramillo’s career brochure.

Alejandro Velazquez listens to a lesson on checking accounts during his financial literacy class at Kennedy High School.

story so much as a very emotional story and ‘I want to know how bad it is and what I can do?’ Viewers don’t want to be told something they already know.”

Social media has created two-way communication from the audience back to the newsroom. Aside from having a website, many stations now are using tactics such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogging to meet their audiences online.

The number of stations using social networking initiatives has soared over the past year, according to a recent survey by RTDNA and Hofstra University. Seventy-six percent of responding stations are integrating social media on their websites and 58 percent are incorporating it into their storytelling. Thirty-nine percent of television stations surveyed

Covering the Recovery: Broadcast Media Weighs What’s Next in Economic Reporting

July/August 2010 NEFEDigest 3

From heated exchanges between shouting commentators on the financial channels to nightly news features depicting the strain on the Joneses, Americans have spent the past two years

immersed in stories of the economic crisis.

Millions of people have struggled through uncertainties about their savings, homes, and jobs. But if this recession confused and worried the average person, think about its effect on news directors and the broadcast reporters who had to cover it.

“The problem is this isn’t an easy story to get your brain wrapped around,” says Con Psarras, news director at KSL-TV in Salt Lake City.

The news director’s paradigm of “if it bleeds it leads” has shifted to the financial equivalent of “if it drops it tops.” Yet, understaffed newsrooms have become less equipped to report and advise their audiences on the nuances of what the headlines mean. To cover this story, reporters need a crash course in economics. How does Wall Street work? How do banks provide credit? What is a collateralized debt obligation? These are questions most broadcast journalists are not prepared to answer.

As part of its continuing partnership with the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), NEFE sponsored a panel discussion on April 13 at the RTDNA annual convention in Las Vegas. The focus: What will help broadcasters effectively cover financial topics and relate them to the average viewer or listener? Specifically at issue, can news stations use the Internet and social media to better communicate economic news to the public?

Meeting Audiences On Social MediaPsarras says the news portion of the KSL-TV website

generates 60 million page views a month. “The financial crisis became the focus of many comments on our website,” he says. “We discovered it is not a left-brain, ‘what-am-I-going-to-do’

(From left) Peggy Phillip, Con Psarras, Tracy Davidson, and Deborah Potter participate on the NEFE panel at the 2010 RTDNA conference in Las Vegas.

said their newsroom has a Facebook page and 36 percent have anchors and reporters who are active on Twitter.

For panelist Peggy Phillip, news director of KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Mo., the solution has been to marry her broadcasts with a website called “Workers Wanted,” which was launched after the unemployment rate exceeded 10 percent in Kansas City. “Our morning news anchor started Tweeting about job postings and people reached out to him,” Phillip says. “That led to phone banks and a one-hour primetime special.”

Continued on page 6

July/August 2010 NEFEDigest 4

Director of High School Program RetiresNEFE Highlights the Career of John Parfrey

The NEFE High School Financial Planning Program® (HSFPP) is the organization’s largest, longest-running program. For the past six years, John Parfrey has led the initiative to revise and expand

the program to today’s cumulative impact, with more than 7 million books in the hands of students across the country.

Parfrey has drawn on his previous experience as a high school teacher and financial educator to provide a valuable perspective to the HSFPP and an influential voice in the financial literacy community.

“John came in during a time of great growth and awareness of youth financial literacy,” says Ted Beck, president and CEO of NEFE. “He helped put the NEFE program into the hands of thousands of teachers and millions of students.”

NEFE Digest: How does your time at NEFE stand out compared to the rest of your career?

Parfrey: Being director of this national program and working with a national network of dedicated professionals has been the most rewarding period of my entire career.

NEFE Digest: How has the HSFPP evolved under your leadership?

Parfrey: During my time at NEFE, the program underwent the most extensive revision in its history. With that revision came a highly dedicated team of more than 150 individuals who have promoted the program in every state, trained thousands of teachers, and opened up many new opportunities for the program to reach more people. On a month-to-month basis, this easily is the most widely used version of the program and very likely the most widely used program out there.

NEFE Digest: What are you most proud of?

Parfrey: All of this has been a team effort. All of NEFE was involved, and dozens of the most knowledgeable people from our national network partnerships came together to make this a collaborative effort on a major scale.

NEFE Digest: One of those collaborators was Jane Schuchardt, Ph.D., former national program leader at the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the federal partner in the nationwide Cooperative Extension system. For two decades, Cooperative Extension has used the HSFPP as its premiere financial education program for youth.

“NIFA highly values John’s abilities to gain results for youth through stellar leadership and effective collaboration with extension educators,” Schuchardt says. “John’s passion for excellence and commitment to the financial well-being of youth has positioned the HSFPP for success far into the future.”

Parfrey: I’m also proud of the near-unanimous level of acceptance by teachers and students. I never have heard a complaint about the program and have received hundreds of unsolicited e-mails and other messages from teachers, parents, and financial professionals who say we have something here that can transform the lives of young people.

NEFE Digest: What do you see or hope for the future of the HSFPP?

Parfrey: The need is so great that the HSFPP needs to be positioned to reach even more young people. NEFE and the next director would do well to engage with teachers and students around the country to learn how to improve what we have done and how to deliver it in new ways.

NEFE Digest: What do you plan to do during retirement?

Parfrey: Nothing for a while! This is a very demanding job, and I am eager to rest and rejuvenate. Beyond reconnecting with Mary Ann, my very patient wife and best friend (who also is retiring when I am), we’re just planning to take each day as it comes. Eventually, travel — domestic and foreign — is high on the agenda.

To read more about the HSFPP, visit hsfpp.nefe.org.

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NEFE Welcomes New Director of Education

Before joining NEFE in May, Billy Hensley, Ph.D., spent time as a researcher, consultant, advocate, board member, teacher, and director in the academic world. His most recent positions as a research fellow at the University of Cincinnati, assistant director at the Ohio College Access

Network, and program associate at KnowledgeWorks® Foundation in Cincinnati have allowed him to research, understand, and champion access to education for underserved communities.

of other people. It’s not just about tasks, lists, or documents we need to follow. It’s truly about understanding human nature, human behavior, and what motivates that.

NEFE Digest: Where would you like to direct NEFE’s research and education programs?

Hensley: We have some wide-ranging research that’s come out of our grants program that has been very powerful and impactful. I’d like to get a wide view of who’s been given venue, who we have not heard, what we know really well, and what we don’t know. The colloquium we’re doing in August should lay the groundwork for some of that.

I’m a very collaborative person and something that influenced me in grad school is called action research, which works off the idea that we all bring something to the table. It’s one thing to survey thousands of students and get transferable knowledge. It’s also important to get context and to understand points of view and perceptions.

This is something we’re doing with teacher training. I’m very excited to look at how teachers think about and integrate financial literacy in their curricula. I think it will make a huge difference not only for teachers, but also for their students.

NEFE Digest: Coming from the academic world, how do you view NEFE’s position within the financial literacy community?

Hensley: NEFE is in a strong position to facilitate great transformation of thinking. We’re not limited by the confines of the academic world nor are we held solely accountable within the financial world. We are interested in being well-rounded and having points of view that represent both sides. So many constituents can be present at the table in the financial literacy world, and we can make connections for people that otherwise wouldn’t exist.

“Dr. Hensley’s education background and nonprofit experience matches NEFE’s mission and will lend an exceptional perspective to NEFE’s grants, research, and education initiatives,” says Ted Beck, president and CEO of NEFE. “We’re fortunate to have him on board.”

NEFE Digest: What interests and excites you about working with NEFE?

Hensley: I’ve always been drawn to projects, initiatives, and missions that are broad in scope but that also are meaningful to individuals. I saw the potential with NEFE not only to touch the world of financial education, but also to have meaningful interaction and influence in people’s lives.

NEFE Digest: What from your background will you bring to your work at NEFE?

Hensley: The issues we face in life, when it comes to choices about money, all are painted in our life experience. It’s fascinating for me to see how research ties with behavior and statistical analyses; all these things together create a full understanding of the work we do.

The research NEFE has originated over the years has shown the impact we have with the interpersonal relationships

FollowNEFEoNTwiTTEr.Visit www.twitter.com/nefe_org.

2010rTDNA/HoFSTrATVANDrADioANDSoCiAlMEDiASUrVEY

© July 2010, National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE). All rights reserved. NEFE Digest, NEFE Financial Literacy Resource Center, and NEFE High School Financial Planning Program are service marks of the National Endowment for Financial Education. Certified Financial Planner and CFP are marks of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.All questions regarding NEFE Digest may be addressed to the Marketing and Communications department. Editor: Lauren Burke. NEFE is open Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. The main telephone number is (303) 741-6333; the fax number is (303) 220-0838.

6 NEFEDigest July/August 2010

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Covering the Recovery continued from page 3

Newsrooms are matching social media to specific audiences, too. “Many of our Facebook fans are female,” Phillip says. “So we use that page to post stories that will have the most interest to women.”

In Philadelphia, WCAU-TV devotes a half hour every week in its early evening newscast to a segment called “Survive and Thrive.”

“We get a brand-new list of jobs every week from a recruiter or job consultant and share them with our viewers,” says panelist Tracy Davidson, a reporter-anchor with WCAU. “And we always have someone on our Facebook fan page answering questions. So if we do a show about credit card changes, we have an expert available to address those specific questions.”

Davidson adds there are many platforms where people can go to get their information, so it’s important for news stations to adapt and be able to provide news however and wherever they want to consume it.

Making a ConnectionIf there was one thing the recession did for broadcast

media, it provided an opportunity for them to connect with their audience on a more sympathetic level. Even as newsrooms were writing about people losing their jobs, they were watching their own ranks dwindle. RTDNA reports that 1,200 news people, just over 4 percent, lost their jobs in 2008. Another 400 were let go in 2009.

“We were able to bring our own feelings to viewers,” says Phillip. “[People in the news media] have experienced furloughs and lost income, and they too are angry. We recognize that many of our viewers share those feelings and are undergoing the same situations.”

The RTDNA panel discussion with Psarras, Phillip, and Davidson was moderated by veteran journalist Deborah

Potter, president and executive director of NewsLab, an online resource center for television and radio newsrooms focused on improving journalism.

NEFE and RTDNA have collaborated to develop a resource to help broadcast media better relate financial stories to their audiences. The Money Matters resource can be found on the RTDNA website at www.rtdna.org/moneymatters.

58 percent of TV stations are incorporating social networking into storytelling

10 percent of radio stations are incorporating social networking into storytelling

76 percent of TV stations are integrating social networking into their websites

27 percent of radio stations are integrating social networking into their websites

71 percent of TV newsrooms are actively involved with Twitter on a daily or constant basis

14 percent of radio newsrooms are actively involved with Twitter on a daily or constant basis

86 percent of TV newsrooms and/or stations have a Facebook page

63 percent of radio newsrooms and/or stations have a Facebook page

Source: 2010 RTDNA/HOFSTRA Staffing and Profitability Survey