United Way of Story County (UWSC) is providing a grant to local school districts throughout Story County to send up to two teachers  to financial education workshops at Iowa State University.

The workshops will assist teachers to prepare for new State of Iowa mandates to teach financial education to middle and high school students. The workshops will be held on Wednesday, July 14 through Friday, July 16, 2010 at the Scheman Building in Ames .

John Kinley, Superintendent for Gilbert Community Schools said, “We are pleased to receive this scholarship to support teacher professional development. Financial literacy is one of the 21st century skills that we will be better able to address with our students as a result of our teachers' participation in this workshop. I am particularly excited about the resource materials that will be provided through this workshop and training that can be utilized in a variety of classrooms to support and reinforce student's financial literacy skill development.”

The workshops are part of the Family Economics & Financial Education (FEFE) which is a program of the Take Charge America Institute at The University of Arizona. It is based on the idea that a university-based financial education outreach program, built on cutting-edge research, can strengthen and extend the ability of schools and community organizations to raise the personal financial capabilities of young adults. To date, the FEFE program is used by over 18,000 educators nationwide impacting 500,000 students annually. From FEFE's inception it has been a program designed by educators for educators.

The UWSC grants program is made possible by the generosity of local donors and allows UWSC to meet new, emerging and underfunded community needs.

To learn more about the workshops, please visit http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/fefe/home.html.