Jump$tart Coalition to Honor Washington Affiliate as State Coalition of the Year

Jump$tart Washington President Karl Kaluza will be on hand to accept the award, which recognizes the affiliate’s effectiveness and innovation at the state level in reaching, supporting and assisting teachers; its public awareness activities; the level of participation and collaboration within the coalition itself and other achievements over the past year.

“In a country where each state has its own culture, demographics, policies, and priorities, there are no one-size-fits-all answers; so we rely on our state coalitions to address financial literacy issues in a way that best meets their local needs, said Jump$tart Chairman Mike Staten. “Jump$tart Washington has led by example and we’re happy to have an opportunity to recognize this coalition’s achievements for a second time.”

Throughout the year, Jump$tart Washington provides grants, workshops, teacher trainings, and financial education opportunities to students and underserved populations across Washington. Some specific projects that Jump$tart Washington spearheaded include:

• Provided $83,000 in grants to nonprofits for new and unique financial education programs for underserved and minority populations.
• Sponsored “Developing Youth Financial Capability” workshop, which reached 400-500 educators.
• Supported the inaugural “Student Loan Awareness Month” with the state Attorney General’s office, which reached approximately 3,000 high school students.
• Sponsored “Reading Days” in 22 cities that matched government and community leaders with 600-700 elementary students to discuss investing and saving.
• Organized 74 digital reality fairs and 22 onsite reality fairs throughout the state reaching more than 2,000 students.

“Jump$tart Washington is honored to be selected as this year’s coalition of the year,” said Kaluza. “We bring together a coalition of dedicated educators and professionals from a cross-section of nonprofit, business, government, community-based organizations. It’s our diversity of interests and values focused on financial education that allows us to best serve the financial literacy needs of students in our state.”

State Coalition of the Year Award 

Jump$tart’s State Coalition of the Year Award was first suggested by Dr. Lew Mandell, one of the Jump$tart Coalition’s founding board members, and was introduced by Jump$tart in 2005. While one coalition is recognized, the award is an important recognition of the collective achievements of Jump$tart’s network of 51 affiliated state coalitions. Recent past winners were:

• 2017 – Idaho Financial Literacy Coalition
• 2016 – Connecticut Jump$tart Coalition
• 2015 – Montana Financial Education Coalition
• 2014 – Maine Jump$tart Coalition
• 2013 – Colorado Jump$tart Coalition
• 2012 – Jump$tart Washington
• 2011 – Iowa Jump$tart Coalition

About Jump$tart: The Jump$tart Coalition is a Washington, DC-based not-for-profit organization that seeks to improve the personal financial literacy of students in pre-kindergarten through college. Jump$tart Coalition’s nearly 150 national partners and 51 affiliated state coalitions work individually and collectively to educate and prepare our nation’s youth for life-long financial success. Jump$tart is the original promoter of April as Financial Literacy Month and publisher of the National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education.  For more information about the Jump$tart Coalition, go to www.jumpstart.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.