Des Moines, Iowa, August 19, 2024 – Principal® Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to helping people and communities build financially secure futures, is collaborating with We Are Teachers, a community of over three million educators across the United States, to support financial literacy in classrooms. Together, the organizations are developing a lesson plan that uses the power of storytelling to help encourage conversations about money. The collaboration is part of a new goal that Principal Foundation has set to reach one million people through financial resources by 2030.
The effort is part of expanding Money Chronicles: A Story Initiative, which was developed by Principal Foundation, and uses storytelling to help destigmatize and encourage conversations about money and personal finances. Through the initiative, Principal Foundation is curating stories from writers as part of a national short story contest that invites people to submit stories that reflect lived experiences with money. Educators that are part of the We Are Teachers community will have access to a free lesson plan with an accompanying activity for students grades five through high school. The lessons will utilize short stories from Money Chronicles that portray individuals’ real-life experiences with money and encourage students to construct their own “money story.”
“We are excited to collaborate with an incredible organization like We Are Teachers on creative and engaging ways to integrate financial literacy into classrooms,” said Jo Christine Miles, director, Principal Foundation, and Community Relations. “Storytelling is a powerful teaching tool that can impart knowledge and understanding while also motivating and reinforcing behaviors that can help the next generation create the financial futures they want.”
In 2023, financial illiteracy cost American adults an average of $1,506 a year, according to the National Financial Educators Council*. More schools across the country are prioritizing financial education, with 35 states now requiring students to take a course in personal finance to graduate, up by 12 since 2022.
“We are committed to developing teacher-created educational resources that work in the classroom.” said Kimberley Gorelik, Senior Editor, We Are Teachers. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Principal Foundation to bring stories from their Money Chronicles: A Story Initiative into our classrooms to help destigmatize conversations about money and teach our youth valuable lessons in financial literacy. We recognize it is increasingly more important to start these conversations early on, and storytelling is a powerful vehicle to do just that.”
To continue encouraging people to share stories about their experiences with money, Principal Foundation has launched the second edition of the Money Chronicles: A Story Initiative contest. The short story contest is hosted in collaboration with The Center for Fiction, a national literary nonprofit, and Short Édition, a global publishing house. Stories can be submitted online through October 2, 2024, 11:59 pm PDT at https://short-edition.com/en/contest/principal-foundation.
Entering the contest is free. One winner and up to 20 finalists will be selected by an esteemed panel of literary authors and experts including Zakiya Dalila Harris, Casey Parks, Joe Wilkins, and Cecily Wong. The winner will receive $1,000, and each finalist will receive $150. Those stories will be distributed across Principal Foundation’s short story dispensers located at The New York Public Library in New York, N.Y.; Sip & Sonder in Los Angeles, Calif.; Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in Charlotte, N.C.; Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Wash.; Prairie Lights in Iowa City, Iowa; and a new location for 2024, Politics & Prose in Washington D.C.
Terms and conditions apply. Adults ages 18 and older are encouraged to submit original fiction or creative nonfiction stories through the contest website now through October 2, 2024, 11:59 pm PDT. The winner and the finalists will be announced in December 2024.
For more information about the collaboration between Principal Foundation and We Are Teachers, visit https://www.weareteachers.com/money-myths-lesson-and-activity/. To submit a story for Money Chronicles: A Story Initiative 2nd Edition Supported by Principal Foundation and details on how to enter the contest, visit https://short-edition.com/en/contest/principal-foundation.