CFLC presents 'Off and Running! Cultivating Creative Thinkers'

Economics and entrepreneurship educators from the Booth Entrepreneurship Center at Morehead State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky have formed the Coalition for Financial Literacy in the Commonwealth (CFLC) in order to collaborate and combine resources for  teaching personal finance, entrepreneurship and economics throughout Kentucky.

The move is in response to Kentucky House Bill 132, passed on April 2. The regulation requires a financial literacy course as a high school graduation requirement and directs the Kentucky Board of Education to establish academic standards for the financial literacy course and to “develop curricula, materials and guidelines which may be used by schools for the financial literacy course.”

With this unfunded mandate, there is an immediate need for training and resources in this area, and the CFLC can help. These professors, through their departments and Centers for Economic and Entrepreneurship, have been providing K-12 teachers with training and resources in this content area for decades. They are pooling their expertise and resources through the coalition in order to provide consistent, high-quality support and promote sustainability through the use of proven programs.

The first professional development event for K-12 teachers will be “Off and Running! Cultivating Creative Thinkers” on Tuesday, June 19, at Keeneland in Lexington. The CFLC will collaborate with State Treasurer Allison Ball, the Federal Reserve Bank and several business sponsors to offer a centralized conference to provide K-12 teachers with resources and methods they can take into their classrooms and integrate into various content areas. The focus is creative and engaging ways to teach real-world applications.

Treasurer Ball will speak on “Financial Empowerment in Kentucky,” and her Chief of Staff, OJ Oleka, will introduce teachers to the treasurer’s new financial empowerment database.

“Being financially literate is vital to the success of an individual as well as to their community. The opportunity to provide a financial literacy course to students is a great benefit, although having to provide the curriculum and materials can be challenging at times because of lack of funding. I am looking forward to the upcoming “Off and Running” workshop at Keeneland – the collaborative work of EKU, UK, NKU and Morehead State will be a valuable professional development opportunity. With professional development funds being cut, it is very much appreciated for these institutions to provide such a worthwhile resource free to educators.  Each workshop I have attended in the past has been outstanding – I can’t wait to see what is in store this year,” said Becky Mullins, a teacher from Belfry High School in Pike County.

Working together, these professors and their partners in the private and public sector will help Kentucky teachers and students work toward financial literacy.

 For further information about the Coalition for Financial Literacy in the Commonwealth, contact j.ratliff@moreheadstate.edu, tbroker@murraystate.edu,  albahrania1@nku.edu, Cynthia.Harter@eku.edu, or  mary.vimont@uky.edu.

Additional information about MSU’s business programs is available at www.moreheadstat.edu/business.