Every other week on NHPR, we like to highlight a nonprofit organization that’s doing important work in New Hampshire. On this week’s episode of Give Back New Hampshire, we’ll be hearing about the New Hampshire JumpStart Coalition.
Established in 2000, NH JumpStart Coalition is dedicated to improving the personal financial education of students throughout the state.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Dan Hebert: Hi, I'm Dan Hebert, I'm the state president of the New Hampshire JumpStart coalition.
Ryan Callaghan: Hi, I'm Ryan Callaghan. I am a board member of the New Hampshire JumpStart Coalition and a volunteer.
Tom Lavery: Hi, I am Tom Lavery, and I'm the vice president of New Hampshire JumpStart.
New Hampshire JumpStart is really near and dear to my heart and some of the things that we do that I'm proud of is, we're helping elementary students get some education through our I Can Save program. We're promoting financial literacy at the high school level through our FinLit300 program, but we're also going back to teachers. We're offering them in-class resources that they can bring to their students and get the mission of financial literacy out there on the ground level. And I'm just really proud of that.
Dan Hebert: With our I Can Save program, which is really geared for second graders, the best you can do is needs versus wants at that age level. So that's what we do. We go through and we do a presentation and show the difference between needs versus want.
As you get up into the middle grades, there's a little bit more of a math component there that seems to be a pretty decent fit. And then as you hit the high school level, this is when kids start to get jobs, and so you start showing examples of taxation and maybe investing and savings, and then of course, knocking on the door for many are college loans.
Tom Lavery: I think one of the other unique programs that we have for our high schoolers is our Reality Check Tour, which is an online quiz that these students can take and we help facilitate it. That really helps boil down the differences between their housing situation and where some of their essential expenses might land, and how that really relates to an earned income so they can start planning. "If I want to live in a big city, what might I need to do for work that's going to help me meet those living needs?" And it's just a nice example for the students to peek under the hood and kind of see what some of the different lifestyles they could live before they start making the decisions themselves.
Ryan Callaghan: We're not ultimately teaching the students that's left to the teachers in their local school districts. And really, JumpStart is a resource for those teachers to tap into to help them develop that curriculum, help answer any questions that they might have.
There's a lot of great resources at the national level through the JumpStart organization, including outlines or standards that can be used in a curriculum. And so that's really where we come in to help advocate for financial literacy and provide that support for the people who ultimately will be teaching our students, and that is the teachers and the local communities.
Dan Hebert: So we are an all volunteer nonprofit organization, so every penny we raise goes into the programs and services that we provide. The struggle for us has always been funding, and it's a very narrow mission teaching kids how to manage their money. If you come at that from a parent point of view, that's an important aspect.
I would also say the other challenge is just volunteer capacity. I mean, everybody is so busy, you know, both personally and on the work front, that to be able to provide some volunteer time for us, that's why I love them so much, because it's hard to get.
Tom Lavery: Watching the students develop over time has probably been the biggest reward for me in what I do on JumpStart. The level of confidence from one year to the next is just mind blowing. And I really think that's the thing that keeps me coming back. Nothing beats it.
Ryan Callaghan: So I believe any investment in our future generations is a great investment. And if we can invest in financial literacy education for students across the state, I think that will reap benefits and dividends down the road for all of New Hampshire, and providing everyone with the knowledge that they need to navigate life decisions that we all have to make.
Dan Hebert: It's been an interesting journey. It's been a very accomplished journey, and it proves that you can get a lot done with passion. And you know, we're a small organization, but I'm so proud of our board and the volunteers that we have here in our organization. It just works. And we're proud of our accomplishments, but we got more to do.
