Pub. 5 2015 Issue 3

Helping Teachers Bridge the Gap in Financial Education A Z BA IS PROUD TO LAUNCH PARTNERSHIP WITH ARIZO- NA COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC EDUCATION The Arizona Council on Economic Education (ACEE) envisions a world where all school-aged chil- dren are empowered through economic and personal financial literacy to make informed and rational choices throughout their lives as consumers, savers and investors, workers, entre- preneurs, citizens, and participants in a global economy. The importance of financial literacy education is greater than ever and even more so for low income families. It’s estimated that only 10% of school aged children have received some basic level of economic education. A recent Financial Capability Survey shows many parents are more comfortable talking to their children about drugs and bullying than about money. 80% of our teachers are not comfortable teaching personal finance. This month, we sat down with Elena Zee, President and CEO of our new strategic partner, ACEE. Elena shared the importance of financial literacy and economics education, her personal passion behind the cause and how we can all make a difference in raising an economically responsible future. E LENA’S STORY My grandfather was a bank President in Shanghai, China in the 1940s. In the early 1950s during the communist regime, he was put in prison because he represented capitalism. He was eventually released because of his poor health, but passed away shortly after his release. Everything my family owned was confiscated by the government. My parents had to move from the city to the countryside to save money on rent in order to buy food. One day when I was 12 years old my mother told me that we had relatives living in the United States. This was a sur- prise to me and I only realized later on it had to be a family secret for protection from the government prosecution. This changed when President Richard Nixon visited China and the formal diplomatic relation between China and the U.S. was established. My mother told me and my younger brother that 6 www.azbankers.org