Iowa Jump$tart Accomplishments for 2016

Throughout 2016

  • Marketing committee. Implemented MailChimp for email publications and email subscription management.
    • Auditing committee. Reviewed and completed steps toward finalizing an auditing checklist.
    • Membership committee. (CRAIG) Made updates to membership list including removing inactive members. Added three new members.
  • February 2016: MoneySmart Week Campus Ag Day. (JOANNE or BOB) Iowa Jump$tart sponsored this event in the Cedar Falls-Waterloo region. There were 140 participants.
  • March 28 – April 13, 2016: Iowa Finance Challenge. (BOB) Iowa Jump$tart sponsored this competition that was organized by the Iowa Council for Economic Education. It is an online financial literacy program that includes 30 questions for students to test their knowledge on financial literacy. There were 13 schools who participated with a total of 55 teams.  Each team consisted of 3 to 4 players which amounted to about 190 students. $675 worth of prizes was distributed to the top 2 finishing teams per region in both the middle and high school categories. The team from West Lyon High School was named the state champion.
  • April 2016:  April proclaimed Financial Literacy Awareness Month in Iowa.  Encouraged by Iowa Jump$tart member Iowa College Aid, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad proclaimed April as Financial Literacy Awareness Month in Iowa.
  • April 6-7, 2016:  State Coalition Leaders Meeting.  Iowa Jump$tart representative met with National Jump$tart officials, partners, and other state coalition leaders in Washington, DC. 
  • April 23-30, 2016:  Money Smart Week Iowa. (JOANNE or BOB)  Iowa Jump$tart coordinated the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Money Smart Week in Iowa. The Iowa Governor signed a proclamation for it.  There were 14 primary regions participating around the state.
    • Within those, more than 354 partnering organizations hosted over 412 events in 25 Iowa counties, reaching 23,636 total attendees
    • The 9th annual MoneySmart Investor conference, held at Drake University, drew over 170 attendees.
    • 360,000 newspaper tabs with the local events calendar were distributed.
    • Awarded one state winner a scholarship for the Money Smart Kid essay contest (about 250 entries).
    • The poster contest had about 2200 entries. Three statewide winners and several local winners were awarded prizes.
    • The GeoCache for College Cash contest prize (toward college tuition) was awarded to a student. About 800 students played on Iowa campuses.
    • The Scout Nights (9 events) offered about 800 youth a chance to earn the personal finance Scout Badge as well as a special MSW event badge.
    • The new TeleTown Hall had over 5,100 listeners (via phone) during the one-hour event with AARP Iowa.
    • The MSW Kids READ focused on entrepreneurship at credit unions and libraries. Over 900 books were distributed.
    • The “Set to Soar” Kite Fest involved about 1,000 students who made and/or flew kites which included a lesson about Ben Franklin on saving and entrepreneurship.
    • The Great Piggy Bank Pageant on Pinterest distributed about 2,000 piggy banks to events/workshops about saving. Decorated banks were posted and judged on Pinterest.
    • The DASH for the STASH based off of investor education received about 250 participants with one receiving a prize.
    • The MSW Bike BASH was a free promotional event that took bikers (100 registered) on a Des Moines bike trail and the chance to play DASH for the STASH.
  • June 22, 2016:  The 16th Annual Personal Financial Literacy Conference (JULIE) was held at DMACC in Ankeny with 119 registered, 106 actual attendance.  One third of those attending were k-12 Educators, the conference’s target audience.  Highlights of the 1-day conference included:
    • Keynote speaker, Mike Finley, The Crazy Man in the Pink Wig.
    • Opening general session with Lincoln Hughes from the EverFi.
    • Closing general session with Kevin Shields from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
    • Three separate breakout session time slots.
    • Twenty conference exhibitors.
    • Professional development credits when combined with the Dept. of Education’s Financial Literacy Summit.
  • November 5-7, 2016:  National Educator Conference.  Iowa Jump$tart sponsored 5 Iowa teachers to attend the Jump$tart National Educator Conference in Dallas, Texas.
  • November, 2016: GeoCache “Be Smart with Your On-Line Cart.” (MARGARET) Iowa Jump$tart and Iowa Bankers Association sponsored a program about online purchasing decisions. The program was used by 34 family and consumer science teachers reaching 365 students. A prize totaling $125 was given to a student and their teacher in a random drawing of all students who answered at least 2 of the 4 questions correctly.