What's New
President Speaks at USC
Our President, Shay Olivarria, has been invited to give the keynote address at the USC Youth Empowerment Conference at the University of Southern California on December 21st. The conference is being sponsored by the Latino Business Student Association.
Over 500 students will be in attendance to learn about college admissions, financial aid, and writing the admissions essay, among other things. Students will also be given a tour of the campus.
New Book, "Birthday Money" Out in the Spring
Many people learned about responsible money mangement the hard way. I have worked with children for over 7 years and I have some to realize that we (the village) need to start talking with children about finances much earlier than we do. By the time they are 16 and taking a money management class, ideas and feelings about money have already been formed.
The book tells the story of a little boy who has a birthday party and receives $10 as a gift from his Grandmother. The main character puts some money in the "charity" piggy bank, some in the "savings" piggy bank, and some in the "spending" piggy bank. The book ends by asking the reader, "What will you do with your birthday money"?
Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley has recently said, "In the last ten years, an extraordinary amount of
scientific research has been developed that tells us in very clear terms that all of our children, even in the
earliest months of their lives, have an amazing ability to learn. We now know that it is absolutely imperative
that we put a new, powerful, and sustained focus on the early years-birth to five-before children even enter
first grade. Put simply, and this should be our collective motto—the stronger the start, the better the
finish…Our children are smarter than we think."
