Category: News/Accolades

The Sallie Mae Fund, the charitable arm of Sallie Mae®, has partnered with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to launch a new scholarship program. The Sallie Mae Fund Bridging the Dream Scholarship Program will provide $1 million a year over the next three years to help students access and complete post-secondary education.

Nearly 900 students, including high school seniors, students in their final year of post-secondary education, and grad students, will receive scholarships through the scholarship program over the next three years.

• The Bridging the Dream Scholarship for High School Seniors: In 2021, The Sallie Mae Fund will award $10,000 scholarships to high school seniors who plan to enroll in a two- or four-year degree professional certificate, or vocational training program. Seniors who excel inside and outside of the classroom and demonstrate financial need can apply now through March 8 at www.salliemae.com/landing/bridging-the-dream.

We are excited to announce that Iowa Jump$tart has coordinated with Next Gen Personal Finance to offer a one-day virtual workshop for Iowa teachers on Thursday, August 6.  The focus of this workshop will be on how to deliver great and effective financial literacy content virtually.

We know that many of you will have to teach some or all of your classes virtually this year.  We wanted to help you with that.  We are sure this workshop will help you be as effective as you can be given the circumstances.  Even though we had to cancel our annual conference this summer, we are hoping that this opportunity will be even more relevant to your current situation.

Here is the information to sign up.

Register now!

Go to our Conference page for more information.

Unfortunately, the National Jump$tart Coalition has announced it has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 National Educator Conference, due to COVID-19 related travel and event restrictions and the significant number of participants who have decided not to attend.

The 2020 National Educator Conference was originally planned to be held on November 7-9 in Atlanta. Though Jump$tart will not be converting NEC into a virtual conference, they are working on an opportunity to connect partners and educators, so stay tuned!

On April 16th, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation to declare April Financial Literacy Awareness Month.  We are living in an epic time.  Through all of life’s changes and struggles we now face, let us focus on how to use our finances to better our lives and stretch our resources to the unknowable end.  Iowa Jump$tart Coalition is dedicated to providing resources to promote financial literacy education.  Please explore our website or contact us for more information.

Six teachers that attended the Iowa Jump$tart Conference on June 14th, 2019 will be going to Washington D.C. to be a part of the biggest Financial Literacy Conference in the nation.  They applied and received the Iowa Jump$start Scholarship Award to enable them to attend the 2019 Jump$tart National Educator Conference on November 1-3.  Congratulations to these Iowa teachers! (picture does not match the order of list below)

• Dan James from Dallas Center-Grimes Community School District, Dallas Center
• Teresa Blackburn-Bentz from Glidden-Ralson Community School District, Glidden
• Matt Graham from Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, Garner
• Bonnie Pohl from Gilbert Community School District, Gilbert
• Chealsee Klindt from Meredith Middle School, Des Moines
• Abby Donald from Mason City High School, Mason City

Matt Pohlman from Mason Northwest was also a recipient, but he will not be attending.

In this month of April, Iowa Jump$tart would like to encourage all Iowans to take a moment to think about how they can improve their financial capabilities.  Maybe make a goal to read a book or take a community class.  If you need guidance, Iowa Jump$tart and its many partners will gladly help you find resources to help you reach your goals.  When you look at it’s core, money is important to our survival and quality of life.  We know how difficult it can be to pay back college loans, to pay taxes, to understand insurance, or to recover from a financial loss like divorce or natural disaster.  We are all in this together.

PDF of Proclamation

Owen Schobert, an eighth grader at Lansing Middle School in Lansing, has won the 13th annual statewide financial literacy essay contest for Money Smart Week Iowa and has been named Iowa’s 2019 Money Smart Kid. Schobert also received $1,000 from the Iowa Bankers Association to put toward his college education.

Forty-one students from across the state participated in the 2019 Money Smart Week Essay Contest. Any Iowa student in grades seven through 11 was eligible to submit a 400-word essay. This year’s prompt asked students to explain what income volatility is and who is prone to experience it. Students were also asked to include tips and resources on how to prepare for sudden fluctuation in income.

Iowa Student Loan is offering two opportunities to help families pay for college this fall.

• College Savings Plan Parent Giveaway: Now through Oct. 21, parents and guardians of students in grades 6-12 can register to win a $1,000 College Savings Iowa deposit. Fifty winner will be chosen.
• Iowa Financial Know-How Challenge: Beginning Oct. 22, high school seniors can register online and complete the designated components of the Iowa Financial Know-How Challenge: Senior Scholarship for a chance to win one of 30 scholarships for $2,000. There are no GPA, merit or financial requirements.

Click here to learn more about both programs.