Proposal for Emerging Opportunity Program Spring 2015 Submit application to [email protected] Deadline: 12:00 pm (noon) on Friday March 20, 2015 LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Please limit your proposal and responses to the form and space provided. Any materials submitted in addition to this application form will not be considered in the evaluation of the proposal. Do not attempt to unlock or alter this form. If you need assistance with this proposal or are unclear about how to respond to any questions please contact CDD staff at 266-6520. Amount Agency or Group: Asset Builders of America, Inc. $7500 Requested: Title of Proposal: Youth Power Academy of Finance - Northside Contact Person: Richard Entenmann Address: 1213 N. Sherman Ave # 195 Telephone: 608.663.6332 E-Mail: [email protected] Is this Group a 501 (C) Yes or No (3)? yes Applicant Organization 1999 founded (Year): Name of Fiscal Agent N/A (if Applicable): Fiscal Agent Contact Richard Entenmann Person: Project Description: Summer Finance Day Camp offered half days for two weeks targeting youth on ( Approx. 20 Words) Madison's Northside 1. Emerging Need or Opportunity: (5000 characters) Please describe the emerging need or unanticipated opportunity that warrants City resources and attention at this time: Emerging Need: Research by noted academic Robert Margo and a recent Federal Reserve report suggest that education works as a tool to raise individuals’ income and net worth. Professor Barr, a Brookings Institution scholar and professor at the University of Michigan, agrees. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve has noted: "Financial literacy education...can help families to meet their near-term obligations and to maximize their longer-term financial well-being. Indeed, in many respects, improving basic financial education...is essential to providing a foundation for financial literacy that can help prevent younger people from making poor financial decisions that can take years to overcome…a recent study of the relationship between financial behavior and financial outcomes revealed that comprehension of the 1 general principles of sound financial behavior, such as budgeting and saving, is actually more beneficial in producing successful financial results over time than specific and detailed information on financial transactions." The Youth Power Academy of Finance® is specifically structured to educate young people on general principles of sound financial management. As the above studies suggest, the knowledge and saving behaviors that we instill in our Millionaires Club members will enable these youth to enter adulthood with a sound understanding of important principles of personal finance. Our programs have helped students apply and gain acceptance to college; find jobs; open savings accounts; obtain library cards, gain entrepreneurial experience through business enterprise activities and business exposure through field trips. In the Youth Power Academy of Finance, students receive the blend of education and exposure that is requisite to gain a complete understanding of the most basic principles and methods for developing their own human capital and for building wealth over a lifetime. Unanticipated Opportunity: Through our other programs, we have developed excellent working relationships with the staff of youth serving organizations on Madison's Northside. Claude Gilmore, the new executive director of Kennedy Heights, is already very familiar with our work and he has expressed strong interest in collaborating with us and our programs. We already have strong relationships with social service workers at Dane County Social Services and Neighborhood Intervention Program on Sherman Avenue, and they too are anxious for us to bring our programing closer to their clientele. Given the issues and circumstances confronting youth of color in Madison, we know that it is crucial to engage our youth in meaningful constructive activities for as much as the summer as possible. If anything, we would like to expand our summer finance academies into additional neighborhood centers if others are interested. 2. Applicant Organization or Group: (5000 Characters) Please briefly describe the history and structure of your organization. Include information about staffing, your board and/or volunteers. Please describe any successes you have had in the areas of programming or the project described in this proposal. 2 We were founded in June 1999, and have conducted an expanding list of programs since then to achieve our mission. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization and we are governed by a six member Board of Directors. The Madison Area board members include Richard Entenmann, J.D., CFA and Susan Bulgrin, owner of Culvers on Todd Drive. The other board members include Pam Anderson, U.S. Bank; Rhonda Medina, TCF Bank; Steven DeVougas,Hinshaw and Culbertson LLP; and Blaine Gibson, R.W. Baird. We currently have two full-time employees (Richard Entenmann and Jeff Sroka). Jeff Sroka is an experienced educator, with a special interest in and passion for teaching urban and minority youth. Robert Wynn is the founder and Development Consultant for Asset Builders of America, Inc. He has an extensive track record in creating and implementing state-wide business development and entrepreneurial programs, and he continues to provide program and organizational development services as an independent contractor for Asset Builders. In addition to the Youth Power Academy of Finance, our core programs include the Money Conference, a one day financial education conference for youth and adults; the Finance and Investment Challenge Bowl®, a "jeopardy style game" to promote and showcase economic literacy aimed at high school students; Millionaires Clubs®, an after school program for middle school students; Got Money? a multi-media financial literacy youth conference offered during the school day. Our programs operate in seven cities and on one Indian Reservation. We have fifteen years of extensive experience in serving Low- income communities – five programs in seven Wisconsin cities. Since its inception in 1999, Asset Builders has provided extensive financial education and wealth building initiatives to more than ten thousand individuals statewide. Over the years, we have literally transformed lives of our program participants, having influenced career choices, inspired youth to achieve academically, helped numerous youth and adults to begin saving and investing, facilitated prep school and college admissions, helped students raise scholarship money, connected youth to job opportunities, introduced entrepreneurs to financiers, etc. We are confident that our Summer Finance Academy will lead to very good outcomes for participants. The larger context is for middle and high school youth to learn to operate within a framework of “the economic way of thinking”, building wealth valuing, education and striving to achieve academically. We always embed these core principles and objectives within our all of our financial education programing. 3. Intended Service Population: (2500 characters) Please describe the intended service population (e.g., where they are located, ages, ethnicities, income ranges, English language proficiency etc.). As part of the City of Madison’s Emerging Opportunities Initiative, Asset Builders of America, Inc. proposes to host a Youth Power Academy of Finance® (YPAF) for youth residents of North Madison during the summer of 2015. The Youth Power Academy of Finance provides personal finance, investing and entrepreneurial education and exposure to middle and high school aged youth. We will invite middle and high school aged youth, into the program from Kennedy Heights, Dane County Social Services, Warner Park Community Recreation Center, Northport Apts Community Center, Packers Community Learning Center and the East Madison Neighborhood Center. We have already spoken with the staff of these organizations The staff at Kennedy Heights and Dane County Social Services expressed particularly keen interest in their youth being a part of the Northside Youth Power Academy of Finance.. 4. Innovation: (5000 characters) How does this proposal reflect a new or innovative approach to the stated problem? This initiative represents the innovative approach of bringing programing directly to the clientele rather than requiring youth to be transported out of their commuity to receive high quality instruction. The Youth Power Academies of Finance are specifically structured to educate young people on general principles of sound financial management. The knowledge and saving behaviors that we instill in our Academy students will enable these youth to enter adulthood with a sound understanding of important principles of personal finance. Our programs have helped students apply and gain acceptance to college; find jobs; open savings accounts; obtain library cards, gain entrepreneurial experience through business enterprise activities and business exposure through field trips. In the Youth Power Academy of Finance, students 3 receive the blend of education and exposure that are requisite to gain a complete understanding of the most basic principles and methods for building wealth. Innovations I : Core Concepts. The Academy will do a thorough job of teaching youth the following core concepts a) income vs wealth; b) the process of compounding and c) the difference between a stock and a bond. These sound like simplistic learning objectives, but these concepts are at the foundation