DEC Hosts "The Buck Starts Here" Financial Literacy Seminar

The Detroit Economic Club hosted a special Educational Outreach seminar titled “The Buck Starts Here” at Lawrence Technological University on November 20, 2009. Nearly 70 students from 12 local high schools and two colleges gathered for the three-hour event, which was presented by Charter One Bank and made possible by a grant from UPS. Using portions adapted from the FDIC’s Money Smart program, the seminar helped students understand basic concepts of banking and credit while engaging them in dialogue on current economic events such as foreclosures, bankruptcies, and the T.A.R.P. program.

Students were given a basic financial literacy survey before and after the seminar which was used to measure their learning progress. Audience Response System (ARS) technology, administered by the Detroit Regional Chamber, facilitated a concurrent competition allowing the school groups to answer questions in real-time during the session. “Both the ARS responses and the literacy surveys showed a strong positive learning trend,” said DEC Manager of Meeting and Member Services Jana Reddiboina. “It’s great to see actual proof of their progress. I think the students really learned a lot of valuable information that will make a difference in their lives.”

Dearborn Heights Robichaud High School student Antonio Cummings noted his impressions of the seminar during a mid-session break. “I learned how to invest money into an account, and how to manage it,” he said. “I want to apply [these principles] to my own finances and make sure I manage my money the right way, [knowing] what to do with it and what not to do with it.” Charles Michalski, a student at Warren Fitzgerald High School said the program is prompting him to start saving. “The diagrams [showed] that if you just save one dollar a day or five dollars a day, it helps a lot,” he said.

DEC Chief Operating Officer Steve Grigorian called the program a spectacular success. “This is what we do,” he said. “Education is a cornerstone of the DEC, and this financial literacy seminar is just a natural extension of the kind of business culture education we provide our students regularly. We truly appreciated the efforts and collaboration of the organizations that made this possible, including UPS, Charter One Bank, Lawrence Technological University and the Detroit Regional Chamber.”

At the conclusion of the program, students were asked two questions: “What have you learned from this session that you didn’t know before today?” and “What is one positive change you want to make in your life as a result of what you learned today?” Like many of the students, Korinne Seefried of Fitzgerald High School came away with a new understanding of the importance of opening a bank account, saving and budgeting. “I learned to budget and [to] think about what you do with your money,” she said. “Start saving when you are young so you have money when you are older.” When asked about one change she was going to make in her life as a result of the seminar, Seefried responded “I am going to study harder and be the first person to graduate from college in my family.”