FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:      Susan Miller
                   317.816.9760 ext. 247
                   smiller@hickmanassociates.com

Nation’s First Money Bus Travels to Indianapolis’ Paul I Miller Elementary

(May 15, 2006 – Indianapolis, Ind.) Elementary students at Paul I Miller Elementary in Indianapolis will board the nation’s first Money Bus as it pilots Indiana schools Thursday, May 18. The Kids Count on the Money Bus, a project of Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University (NFI), functions as a mobile financial literacy classroom and will travel the state teaching students in grades 3-5 lessons about personal money management. 

The 40-foot, technology loaded motor coach includes a comprehensive financial literacy curriculum featuring interactive experiences such as the Call It! Arcade, Wild Rides audio-video sensory ride and Donation Concentration. Each exhibit provides interactive lessons on money concepts including budgeting, saving and spending as well as delayed gratification and charitable giving.  Pre and post-boarding activities allow the teacher to complement the on-bus experience with classroom activities.

The Money Bus’s visit to Paul I Miller Elementary marks the beginning of a statewide initiative to teach financial literacy skills to Indiana’s young students.  Elizabeth Coit, executive director of NFI said the development team worked closely with educators to develop an experience that could easily be integrated into teachers’ busy lesson plans. “While teachers expressed a need for more financial management resources, the challenge was finding time to take the children to an exhibit.  The Money Bus essentially serves as a traveling field trip,” Coit stated.

Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University was founded in 2003 with a grant from Lilly Endowment.  NFI strives to facilitate broad, collaborative thinking, dialogue and progress in the evolving financial services marketplace, concentrating on the areas of education, outreach and research.  Headquartered in Indianapolis with offices in Washington, D.C. and on the campus of Indiana State University, and with outreach internationally, NFI’s goal is to serve as a catalyst for change in the financial services industry.

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