April 23, 2012
Chicago, IL – April 23, 2012 – Tackling head on the issue of improving financial literacy among Illinois teens, Chicago Bears Linebacker Lance Briggs was joined by Rep. Robert Dold (IL-10) and Visa Inc. today to highlight an effort to improve the money management skills of high school and middle school students. This free educational video game and classroom curriculum, called Financial Football, was developed by Visa Inc.
Representative Dold kicked off this financial literacy event today at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago with help from Briggs and Visa officials. Briggs shared his personal experiences on the importance of money management with students. Dold and Briggs then rolled up their sleeves and led student teams in a hard-fought, high energy game of Financial Football with students from Vernon Hills High School and Libertyville High School in Rep. Dold's district.
"Financial Football acts like a game plan students can use for their own economic wellbeing," said Congressman Dold. "It's a wonderful way to get students interested in their financial health and future. This is a valuable program and a great partnership between Visa and the NFL."
The centerpiece of Visa's nationwide educational initiative with the NFL and NFL PLAYERS, Financial Football helps students and adults tackle their financial futures. This free game is accompanied by a classroom curriculum.
"A game is a fun way for kids to learn to make smart money management decisions early in life," said Briggs. "It's important to have a playbook that includes parents, teachers and mentors within the community to give teenagers a strong background in personal finance."
This event is part of 2012 Money Smart Week. Money Smart Week is an outreach program of the Federal Reserve Bank and is an effort to highlight financial education with a variety of opportunities offered by hundreds of business and community partners.
"Never has financial education been more important," Alejo Torres of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said. "Money Smart Week is an annual event that truly makes a difference in the lives of consumers. Financial Football is precisely the type of educational program that helps make Money Smart Week a success."
Available online, at www.illinois.financialfootball.com, Financial Football puts students' fiscal knowledge to the test in an online simulation game environment by combining the structure and rules of the NFL with financial education questions of varying difficulty. Visa has also released the game as a free iPhone app on iTunes, along with an optimized HD iPad version.
"For over a decade, Visa has been committed to promoting financial literacy and we are proud to assist Representative Dold in his efforts to strengthen financial education," said Jason Alderman, Senior Director of Global Financial Education, Visa Inc.
This is part of a national educational campaign with Visa, the NFL and NFL PLAYERS, now in its seventh season. Since 2006, Visa has reached agreements with thirty-four states and the District of Columbia to distribute Financial Football to every high school and middle school in those states, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Financial Football is part of Practical Money Skills for Life (www.practicalmoneyskills.com) a free, award-winning financial education program that reaches millions of people around the world each year. Launched in 1995, the program is now available in ten languages in thirty countries. At Practical Money Skills for Life, educators, parents and students can access free educational resources including personal finance articles, games, lesson plans, and more. Visa also runs What's My Score (www.whatsmyscore.org), a leading higher education consumer awareness program.
About Visa Inc.
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks–VisaNet–that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa/our_business.html.
