Happy New Year from Young Americans

Blog author Richard E. Martinez, Jr. is the President and CEO of Young Americans Bank and Center for Financial Education.  He has been in this role since 2007, and he previously served as Senior Vice President and CFO.

Happy New Year from Young Americans Bank and Center for Financial Education!  We are so excited for the new year and remain committed to our mission of ensuring youth receive the knowledge to become financially self-sufficient, more productive citizens, and active participants in our free enterprise system.

I am extremely proud of the Young Americans team for the work that was accomplished during the past year.  This includes continuing our role as an essential business and serving our customers at Young Americans Bank.  In addition, the team worked diligently to pivot our educational programming to support students, teachers, and families with virtual offerings until we can return to our signature in-person sessions.

We are beginning to welcome back school groups into Young AmeriTowne and International Towne and are grateful for the trust that our education partners and donors have given us to further our mission.  I wanted to share some exciting highlights with you as we kick off 2021:

• We concluded a two-year Impact Study on Young AmeriTowne in 2020. The results were not surprising but are very exciting.  Young AmeriTowne benefits students but also has impact beyond the classroom, including families with its unique structure of partnering with teachers to deliver a world-class curriculum and the culminating experience of visiting and running Towne to put all those life lessons to use with jobs, businesses, and their own government.  Look for those results to be shared widely in 2021.
• Summer Camps return! We are making preparations to open registration for in-person summer camps on March 1st.  Offerings will include our traditional offerings as well as new three-day camps for those students who did Towne lessons at school to run Young AmeriTowne or International Towne and didn’t get to visit us.
• Student learning continues! Fueled by donor support, teachers are continuing to deliver Young AmeriTowne, International Towne, and YouthBiz programming virtually.
• A brand new Young AmeriTowne opens! Our basement classrooms have been converted into a new, 10-shop Young AmeriTowne so even more young people can experience this powerful program.

We wish you and your family a happy and healthy 2021!

Thank you again for your trust and support during a challenging year!