NYSE Euronext (NYX) is celebrating national Financial Literacy Month by hosting its own Financial Literacy Week, which includes:
- Launching an important new tool to help employers advance the financial capabilities of their employees;
- Introducing a new Corporate Financial Capability Leadership Council that seeks to better coordinate the many strong efforts of companies working on financial empowerment issues in their communities;
- Establishing a new teacher training scholarship program to increase the skills of teachers seeking to bring financial capability to under-resourced schools.
- In addition, the week (April 11-15) will include a live, interactive educational webcast from the New York Stock Exchange, as well as special bell ringings and events in NYSE Euronext’s locations in Paris and New York.
“Financial capability is a core focus of NYSE Euronext’s corporate responsibility program, and we are excited to showcase the good work of so many companies and non-profit partners. Our listed companies want to help their employees make better-informed financial decisions – because it’s the right thing to do and because it makes good business sense, and we all want to align our collective financial capability efforts so they have maximum impact,” says Michelle Greene, Vice President and Head of Corporate Responsibility at NYSE Euronext, as well as Executive Director of the NYSE Euronext Foundation. “As the hub of this global community of companies, NYSE Euronext is in a position to provide tools and coordination to help corporations more effectively tackle this critical issue.”
Following is a tentative schedule of the Financial Literacy Week programs at NYSE Euronext. Additional details will be announced as the week progresses. See Michelle Greene’s preview blog post here, and follow tweets at hashtag #FinancialLiteracyMonth.
Monday, April 11
- NYSE Closing Bell with BizKids, “The public TV series where kids teach kids about money and business.”
Tuesday, April 12
- NYSE Opening Bell with creators of and experts who contributed to the Workplace Financial Fitness Toolkit, a project funded by the NYSE Euronext Foundation. The Toolkit was created by Annamaria Lusardi, Director of the Financial Literacy Center, and an Professor of Accountancy and Economics at George Washington University and the Joel Z. and Susan Hyatt 1972 Professor at Dartmouth College; and Punam Keller, Charles Henry Jones Third Century Professor of Management, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth,working with experts from a wide variety of disciplines. This important new web-based toolkit provides employers with practical, ready-to-use tools to build or improve their workplace financial fitness programs, including a wide range of tools to help educate, motivate, and empower employees.
- Forum: “Financial Literacy in the Workplace: Empowering Employees Beyond the 401(k),” at NYSE, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Leading experts will make the business case for the importance of workplace financial fitness, outline the elements of effective workplace financial capability programs, and introduce and discuss the new Workplace Financial Fitness Toolkit.
- NYSE Closing Bell with recipients of the Center for Financial Services Innovation’s Financial Capability Innovation Fund, which supports and funds strategies and initiatives that provide Americans access to the financial products and educational tools they need to change their lives. Closing Bell ceremony will include major corporate supporters of the Fund. A collaborative of funders led by the Citi Foundation and also including Bank of America, Capital One, Morgan Stanley, Experian, U.S. Bank and Visa Inc. helped launch the Financial Capability Innovation Fund.
Wednesday, April 13
- NYSE Closing Bell: Celebrating Junior Achievement-NYSE Euronext Global Partnership. JA officials, students and teachers will participate. The NYSE has had a long partnership with JA, supporting its work with Foundation grants as well as with employee volunteers who teach the JA curriculum in the classroom. The NYSE has also hosted a class of JA students for a full-day educational program that paired employee mentors with small groups of students. Globally, NYSE Euronext employees are also working with local chapters of JA in Paris, Lisbon, and London.
Thursday, April 14
- NYSE Euronext Paris bell ringing to celebrate the global partnership between NYSE Euronext and Junior Achievement. In Summer 2009, NYSE Euronext Paris signed a partnership with Entreprendre Pour Apprendre, the French arm of Junior Achievement. Among other elements, it entails the recruitment of volunteers to mentor students from 15-25 years old in their endeavour to build mini-enterprises as well as a partnership prize offered by the NYSE Euronext jury team during the National championship held in June each year. Prizes are awarded to the contestants having displayed the most ethical management of their mini-enterprise. Attending will be representatives of Entreprendre Pour Apprendre, including Director Isabelle Andrieu, as well as members of a mini-enterprise BTS INFA, Nogent sur Marne and their teacher Mrs. Watigny, and the NYSE Euronext 2011 volunteer team members.
- Workshop: “Financial Capability in Our Communities: Collaboration Across Sectors” – Empowering individuals with the financial knowledge and skills they need to build more secure financial futures requires collaboration among the non-profit, government and private sectors. Many companies in the NYSE Euronext community are doing great and innovative work in this area, often in unique partnerships with non-profits. At this forum leaders from these companies and non-profits will share their successes in using collaboration to find innovative approaches to improve financial capability.
- Discovery Education’s “Virtual Field Trip to the NYSE”, 12-1 p.m.: This educational program will help students in grades 6-12 learn the fundamentals of financial responsibility, finance and how markets work. Market professionals will explain their roles in the process. Pre-and post-classroom guides will provide teachers with related student activities and thought starters, ensuring a comprehensive learning experience. More than 1,000 classrooms representing perhaps 25,000 students from all 50 states and countries as far as Korea and Japan have already signed up to participate. The link to the related website is here.
- NYSE Euronext is establishing a new Corporate Financial Capability Leadership Council to coordinate the financial-capability efforts of corporate leaders. Despite all of the good work being done by companies to improve the financial capability of people in our communities, surprisingly there is no coordination among corporate financial literacy leaders. This new initiative will address the issue by ensuring that programs are aligned for maximum effectiveness.
Friday, April 15
- NYSE Closing Bell: “Girls’ Financial Empowerment,” with the Girl Scouts and Girls Inc. Financial empowerment of girls has positive ripple effects for their families and communities. Girls are more likely to face a host of financial challenges throughout their lives and generally are less likely to be well-equipped to meet them. Thus, we need to start early giving our girls the confidence and skills they need to build bright financial futures. This bell ringing celebrates the good work of non-profits that promote financial empowerment and financial capability for girls.