Wednesday, April 19, 2017

7.6 million American children unbanked?


YouthUSA Economic Beneficiaries can bank $500 or more
when your Whole Village completes FDIC Money Smart CBI
By Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired
AMWS April 19, 2017, Atlanta -- If you’ve been distracted by national demands for transparency, you may miss one opportunity for bi-partisan engagement. Representatives Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Joyce Beatty (D-OH), co-chair the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. In case you missed it in national news reports, April is National Financial Literacy Month. 
YouthUSA has called on the bank that holds its money and the agency that insures it to PAY ATTENTION! YouthUSA is looking to a few good professionals, employed by our bank and government agencies like FDIC, for a little help with low income Americans hoping to be less poor.
“This week in the news, the temporal economy of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez allegedly ended in suicide.  Hernandez played for the New England Patriots as a tight end and in 2013 had an estimated net worth of $8 million.  Since they’re talking about it in the news, we figured a life’s lesson in financial literacy might be appropriate,” said Stephanie A. Stradford, CEO for Youth Achievers USA Institute.
We’ve all heard the axiom, TIME IS MONEY.  Winners at YouthUSA are reading between the lines to assess their own value as assets instead of liabilities to the American economy.  As winners, they’re applying time and money realities to goals for lifelong learning and earning.  To win, they’ll need to MAKE time and not WASTE time, USE time and not LOSE time by DOING time.
Aaron Michael Hernandez was born on November 6, 1989 in Bristol, Connecticut. He died April 18, 2017.  Two dates and a dash in between pretty much sums up his temporal economy. By 2015, Attorney John Fitzpatrick was speaking for Hernandez.  According to Fitzpatrick, Hernandez, who was convicted in April in the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, “is low on money as his legal fees are piling up.”  Reports say Hernandez was paid for only one year of his terminated $40 million contract with the Patriots.
Despite the reported prison suicide, his former teammates of the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots visited the White House, today.  Somebody had to say something, but nobody wanted to state the obvious.  Neither Hernandez nor President Donald Trump would be releasing their federal income tax returns for the 2016 tax year.
Since so many young people desire to become instant millionaires and billionaires, perhaps it's time for us all to learn more about money instead of just spending it. Earlier this year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) rolled out a new and improved version of Money Smart to help make financial education more accessible.  YouthUSA and other partners affiliated through the FDIC Money Smart Alliance are stepping up efforts to make business as usual a practice of the past. 
It’s been more than a decade since YouthUSA CEO Stephanie A. Walker Stradford met with FDIC’s Penny King to partner on FDIC Financial Literacy.  YouthUSA’s commitment was to promote Money Smart CBI to engage YouthUSA beneficiaries across the U.S. in financial literacy.   Mrs. Stradford traveled to churches throughout the six state Atlanta Federal Reserve Region looking for low income Americans in need of economic inclusion.   Most of the caring adults had no clue as to what Economic Inclusion meant on Our Streets, USA.
According to the 2015 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households 7.0 percent of U.S. households were unbanked, meaning that no one in the household had a checking or savings account.
Approximately 9.0 million U.S. households, made up of 15.6 million adults and 7.6 million children, were reportedly unbanked. The most recent survey was administered in June 2015 in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, collecting responses from more than 36,000 households. The survey provides estimates of the pro-portion of U.S. households that do not have an account at an insured institution, and the proportion that have an account but obtained (nonbank) alternative financial services in the past 12 months. The survey also provides insights that may inform efforts to better meet the needs of these consumers within the banking system.
Helping unbanked and underbanked Americans enter the economic mainstream promotes a noble thought, but as the history reveals, it’s not easy. First introduced in 1991, the Assets for Independence Act (AFIA) worked its way through several sessions of Congress, finally passing in 1998. The 105th Congress appropriated $105 million to fund IDAs over the course of 5 years. AFI was the “largest federal funder of IDA programs” awarding grants to more than 400 non-profits and government programs. More than 84,000 families received some sort of assistance from AFI through the IDA and financial education programs. Over 40% of these families have been able to “join the economic mainstream” through the purchase of assets.
The process of applying, and receiving grants can be improved by reducing administrative costs, clarifying specific sponsor organization and defining the grant process from congressional appropriation to an individual IDA.

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