In April 2004, Citigroup announced that it would invest $200 million in financial education over the next 10 years. The commitment demonstrates our support for financial education because it helps people understand how to use the financial resources, raise their quality of life and strengthens communities around the world. Financial education is a natural extension of the work we do everyday and a major focus of our effort is to make a difference in the communities in which we live and work.
Citigroup supports JA programmes on 4 continents and in 32 countries. In partnership with JA, business and personal finance is brought to life for millions of students. Approximately $5 million has been contributed to these programmes in the last 5 years to help expand existing programmes and start new ones. In 2003, 1,411 of our employees volunteered in JA classrooms, these employees were supported by $1.3 million of grant money reaching over 34,000 students. Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi CEO of our GTS EMEA business sits on the board of JA Worldwide and is the vice-chair of the European Board. Francesco serves as a senior level champion of the programme within the GTS business and the wider organisation.
We support JA programmes because they improve our employee's communication and presentation skills, help them gain a better understanding of the community in which we operate, and to gain confidence in their abilities to communicate and teach. It is precisely these skills which are necessary for business leadership.
In Latin America, students representing 11 Latin American countries travelled to Uruguay for the sixth annual “Banks in Action” (BIA) regional competition, which we supported in 2003. BIA teaches high school students about banking through a competition in which students assume the role of bank managers and make decisions based on various business and economic scenarios.
In Germany, more than 170 Citigroup volunteers introduced JA’s personal economics programme in 168 middle school classrooms. During this eight-week course, students learn about budgets and personal and family financial management. The programme will expand to a total of 250 schools in 2004. In addition Citigroup Germany and JA plan to launch a national “Job Shadow Day” where students get to spend a day with a business professional to learn about what they do.
In the UK, Citigroup supported two JA programmes in 2004, a summer school scheme in South East London and a series of networking events in the cities of Dumfries, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The latter, a project entitled “The Café Conversation” was held with the purpose of strengthening links between Scotland’s ‘next generation’ business community leaders (16-25 year olds) and the entrepreneurial network in Scotland. In March, 270 delegates attended the Citigroup supported Café Conversation in the three cities. The events provided young people with the opportunity to develop their skills and broaden their horizons. Guest speakers and business leaders covered topics such as education and learning, and attitudes and values.
The summer school programme run throughout South East London concentrated on providing young people between the ages of 9-17 with an extensive enterprise experience. This is the first time a financial and business education course is part of the summer enrichment programmes. The Citigroup Summer School Programme ran in four inner city boroughs with high level of deprivation. Four week long summer school sessions were run with the assistance of Citigroup volunteers. The aim of the programme was to raise awareness of business, personal finance and to develop individual entrepreneurial skills in a fun and practical way. The programme was cleverly designed to assist young people to identify and set goals for future success. This was achieved through increased awareness of the link between school and future life prospects and the development of employability skills.
Anouschka Elliott, Deputy Director of Community Affairs
Europe, Middle East & Africa
