Financial Literacy & Social Entrepreneurship

Being savvy about money is a must in today's world and requires a host of skills too often lacking among girls and women. To that end, the James Center is implementing a variety of division-wide programs, approaches, and activities that focus on economic leadership, social entrepreneurship and philanthropy.

Our goal is not to establish a new, separate department, but rather, imbed into current course work and out-of-class experiences money-related lessons that will become inherent in all that we do. Students will learn about and practice using financial resources in the context of personal financial independence, service, and philanthropy.

2011-12 Financial Literacy initiatives

  • Organized five Money Matters sessions for the Transitions program for GFS seniors. Speakers include several GFS faculty and staff  members plus three recent alumnae.  Topics covered include: budgeting, saving, investing, use of credit cards, staying out of debt, starting and running a business, overcoming personal setbacks.
  • Created Fall Fest Financial Wizards program to teach organizational budgeting and financial goal-setting to student club heads as part of planning for the Annual student fundraiser.
  • Partnered with Junior Achievement (JA) of Central Maryland by participating in events both at Garrison Forest and off campus. Lower and Middle School Programs included: JA in a Day, BizTown, and some lessons in Personal Finance.
  • Participated in T. Rowe Price-sponsored career day for young women interested in finance.
  • Used Fall Fest, an annual student fundraising event, to strengthen financial skill building in the course of managing a money making enterprise.
  • Planned a series of activities for April which is National Financial Literacy month. Activities include:  Money Matters poetry contest, Stock Market game, Business Plan competition, reading of age appropriate books with financial lessons imbedded in the stories, distribution of a resource guide titled "Packing Your Daughter’s Financial Trunk for College."

A Sampling of 2010-11 Initiatives

  • Offered two workshops titled “Money 101” during the Upper School Symposium.
  • Kicked off Financial Literacy Month with a Senior Class workshop on credit, interest rates, credit ratings and the predator nature of credit card companies.
  • Sponsored a poetry contest with Money as the theme under the auspicious of the Upper School English Department.
  • Published an Op-Ed piece in the Baltimore Sun focusing on financial literacy. The article included a list of tips for parents when talking to their daughters about money.
  • Created a Philanthropy strand during the Middle School mini-mester program.
  • Used the May Spring Fling, a school festival hosted by the Lower Division, to develop a product that raised money for a charity chosen by the girls.

For Parents

Have you had the talk with your daughter? The one about MONEY?

Too often when we ask girls about their financial futures they respond,“I don’t need to think about it now, I'm too young I'll get married and my spouse will handle it all”. The list of reasons why it isn't relevant to them goes on and on.

What they don’t know is that 85% of today’s young women will be on their own financially during some part of their lives. Will they have the tools necessary for leading a financially sustainable life?  That's a question the James Center is addressing in both formal and informal ways through exciting new initiatives.

As Joline Godfrey, founder and CEO of Independent Means says, “Financial Literacy is economic self-defense. And our collective responsibility as caring adults is to arm the next generation with the skills and knowledge they need to handle themselves in a world in which financial safety nets are being replaced by the imperative of financial self-sufficiency".

Integrating financial education and values into the fabric of the DNA of Garrison Forest is a marathon not a sprint. It will take time and the dedication of many. To that end, the James Center is developing numerous ways to engage girls, across divisions, in conversations and activities that focus on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. Our goal is to help them discover:

  • How to, save, budget, spend wisely
  • Track the use of money
  • Handle credit and invest with knowledge
  • Negotiate one’s worth
  • Be an entrepreneur
  • Become a philanthropist.

We encourage you to join us in this endeavor. Talk with your daughter about money in your everyday conversations.  Below are just a few thoughts on where to begin.

  • Talk about the difference between wants and needs.
  • Have her keep track of her spending for a week and suggest she examine how else she might have used that same money.
  • Urge her to allocate her money into spending, investing, and giving categories whether she has  $1 or $100.
  • Encourage her entrepreneurial spirit when she wants to sell cookies, babysit, make scarves, offer a service to others, etc.
  • Help her decide what her time is worth when she babysits, house sits, dog walks, helps out a neighbor. "Pay me whatever you want," should not be her answer.
  • Suggest she do some research before she donates to a worthy cause, start a savings account, buy a computer. Aid her as she becomes a savvy consumer and donor.