Biz Kid$
Teaching kids about money and business.
WEDU, The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union, The Baldwin Foundation, and Parent Guide Magazine hosted summer workshops to encourage teachers, parents and caregivers of young children to utilize the invaluable resources provided by the PBS Program Biz Kids to strengthen the academic achievements, social and emotional well being of their students and children.
Biz Kid$ is the fun, fast-paced public television series where kids teach kids about money and business. America’s current economic crisis underscores not only what our financial institutions must do to strengthen our monetary system, but what individuals and families need to (and can) do to secure their own financial futures. The series and its grant opportunity and the support of The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union and the Baldwin Foundation is helping WEDU take a leadership role in bringing forward the essential need for our schools to provide economic education to youth.
The purpose of the 2010 Tampa Bay Biz Kids Summer program was to:
- Engage young people and help them develop life skills in the areas of financial literacy and entrepreneurship.
- Engage classroom teachers (4th to 8th grade) & caregivers of school aged children in using Biz Kid$, its curriculum and campaign resources, to build their students’ financial literacy and economic education skills. Materials are in English and Spanish.
- Increase public awareness of the need for economic education in schools, to promote discussion and action, and to build public will to provide financial education as part of school curricula.
12 Core episodes were selected from the Biz Kid$ series to be implemented into the curriculum projects of local community partners including public and private schools, youth-serving groups, faith-based and other media organizations. Some of the partners include Hillsborough & Pinellas County Schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA, All About Kids, Tampa Housing Authority, among others.
More than 100 individuals attended the WEDU Biz Kid$ Tampa Bay “Train the Trainer” workshops held in May 2010 at the Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union. Participants received materials needed to implement the program including curriculum workbooks, Biz Kid$ Lunchbox that included “Let’s Go!” brochures, DVD’s with the selected episodes as well as calculators, Biz Kid$ promotional items and Biz Kid$ business cards for all student participants to customize as their own.
As part of the public awareness for Biz Kid$, The SunTrust Bank Building in downtown Tampa changed the top of the building to reflex the color Green in recognition of Biz Kid$ Tampa Bay summer program launch during the entire month of June. With the support of Lamar Transit Tampa and HART, Biz Kid$ Tampa Bay was provided an opportunity to promote its message on the HART buses in July and August.
Now in its third season, Biz Kid$ has been broadcast to more than 108 million households.
Biz Kid$ is produced by Biz Kid$ LLP in association with WXXI Public Broadcasting in Rochester, NY. It is distributed by American Public Television.
2009 Emmy Award WINNER
2009 Environmental Media Award WINNER
Production and educational outreach funding is generously provided to Biz Kid$ by a coalition of America’s Credit Unions.
