SEATTLE-The first television series to be sponsored by credit unions, the Emmy Award-winning Biz Kid$, has earned another distinction, as it will be presented with a Wegner Award for Outstanding Program by the National Credit Union Foundation.
A group of over 150 credit unions and affiliates have exclusively funded the program for the last three years, donating $7.6 million towards the show's production, curriculum development and outreach.
"Through the Biz Kid$ program, credit unions are at the forefront of teaching youth about financial independence and social entrepreneurship. The return for our investment has been the promotion of credit unions' core values of self-help, economic empowerment, and volunteerism," Rudy Hanley, President/CEO of SchoolsFirst Credit Union in Santa Ana, Calif. said in his letter supporting recognition of the pgoram.
That message is being heard across the country as 334 PBS stations in all 50 states broadcast Biz Kid$ to 112 million households at least once a week. Most stations use the program in their prime slots for children's television viewing; after school on weekdays and weekend mornings. Thirty-nine episodes have been produced so far and fundraising efforts for a fourth season are already underway.
"It's very obvious that there has never been a more important time for youth to learn the proper use of credit, managing their money, saving and generally how to be a good consumer," said RoxAnne Kruger, SVP at the Washington CU League and CU project manager of Biz Kid$. "Today's young generation sat on the sidelines and watched their parents to make mistakes as evidenced by the economy today."
Kruger noted that Biz Kid$ fills in a critical demographic gap; many other programs have been developed for high schoolers and others are available to teach the youngest students, but little has been done to teach financial literacy to upper elementary and junior high school students. In addition to the television program Biz Kid$ also offers a turnkey curriculum that financial institutions can simply download from its website. The outreach program, created in concert with a number of education officials to meet rigorous standards, can be paired with posters and other promotional items for advertisement purposes which are also provided free of charge.
"What CUs can do and have been doing is work with their local libraries, schools and after-school programs and they can take the (Biz Kid$) curriculum that is available online at no cost and co-brand it and teach this financial education in the classrooms and communities," Kruger said. "We're just beginning to see the potential for this program. Cooperatively we've funded the TV show, the website, the outreach. The next step is CUs embracing and implementing Biz Kid$ in their markets at basically no cost."
