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Tellers helps customers make a deposit into their Young AmeriTowne bank accounts.
Young Americans Center for Financial Education exists to provide every Colorado student, regardless of background, with the opportunity for effective training in financial literacy and workforce skills.
Why is this so important? Research suggests that a basic introduction to financial concepts—saving, credit, banking, and investing—at a young age helps prepare students to be financially responsible adults. This knowledge is particularly beneficial for youth growing up in low-income households. In The Atlantic, Professor Annamaria Lusardi reports that more than one-third of wealth inequality could be accounted for by disparities in financial knowledge.
Young Americans Center’s CRA- (Community Reinvestment Act) eligible Send-a-School initiative has provided need-based scholarships to students and schools since 2004. Scholarships to Young AmeriTowne or International Towne allow deserving students to experience, in a hands-on way, what it’s like to hold a job, use a bank, make a purchase with a credit card, travel the world, and more. Essentially, a Send-a-School partner finances the cost of a school’s visit to AmeriTowne or International Towne, including:
- Program curriculum
- Teacher training
- Volunteer training
- Student workbooks and other materials (checkbooks, passports, credit cards, etc.)
- Facilitated day in Young AmeriTowne or International Towne
In 2017, Young Americans awarded $108,034 in scholarships to 109 deserving schools and 8,806 deserving students, thanks to our many Send-a-School partners:
- Anonymous
- Aegon Transamerica Foundation
- Alpine Bank
- Andrea-Mennon Family Foundation
- Bank of the West
- BBVA Compass Foundation
- Champion Bank
- Linda and Don Childears
- CoBank
- CoBiz Financial
- Colorado State Bank and Trust
- Deluxe Corporation Foundation
- Denver Active 20-30 Children’s Foundation
- Ed Bozarth Chevrolet
- Fidelity Investments
- First Western
- GE Johnson Construction Company
- IMA
- Jackson National Life Insurance Company
- Madge M. and Joseph T. Mohar Charitable Foundation
- Nord Family Foundation
- Nordson Foundation
- JJP Family Foundation
- Riveron
- Ronald and Carol Moore Family Foundation
- Rotary Club of Golden
- Starizon
- State Farm Insurance
- The Charles M. and Faye G. Schayer Foundation
- U.S. Bank Foundation
- UMB Bank
- University of Denver, Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning
- Vectra Bank
- Deborah Wein
- Wells Fargo Bank
- Larry and Kathy Willette
Thank you for serving more low-income young people than ever before!
If you are interested in helping us bring our award-winning programs to even more low-income youth in the coming school year, please contact Betsy Sklar, Vice President of Business Partnerships and Development at bsklar@yacenter.org or 303-320-3245.
