Banking on Our Future: Financial Literacy Education for Youth

Operation Hope Inc.'s Banking on Our Future (BOOF) program began in 1996. BOOF provides year-round financial literacy education for youth ages 9 to 18 at no cost to school districts, and it focuses primarily on urban, underserved communities. Volunteer Hope corp members teach the program's four modules: (1) The Basics of Banking, (2) Checking and Savings Accounts, (3) The Power of Credit, and (4) Basic Investments. The curriculum breaks down knowledge of banking and credit into terms that youth can understand. BOOF's financial literacy instruction is provided through face-to-face classroom presentations and an interactive computer program, http://www.bankingonourfuture.org.

The mission of the Banking on Our Future (BOOF) program is to execute a global delivery system for financial education for youth ages 9-18 at no cost to school districts, with a focus on urban, under-served communities.

Currently, BOOF is being implemented in 18 cities nationwide: Since the program's inception, more than 186,000 youth have received BOOF instruction in almost 500 schools and 200 community-based organizations. In a 2004 formal evaluation of the BOOF program, researchers administered pre- and post-tests to a random sample of students in grades four to eight. They found that more than 50 percent of the students made significant gains in financial literacy skills and concepts.