When speaking about Financial Literacy, I often use the word PASSION. At first, I wasn't quite sure why I chose that word to describe what Financial Literacy was to me. It's just the word that naturally came to me when I shared with others. Today, while doing some research, it all became clear to me, and the word PASSION is definitely the correct word to use to describe how I feel about Financial Literacy, and here is why...
Poverty is a well-documented risk factor for many negative outcomes in childhood. Children growing up in poverty have more social, emotional, behavioral, and physical health problems than do children who do not grow up in poverty (Lempers, Clark-Lempers & Simons, 1989).
This fact hits straight to the heart. Although, poverty is not the only culprit of these problems, Poverty is state in which derives by CHOICE, not of the child, but of the parent. As I develop my Financial Literacy program, this is why I do what I do and why I call Financial Literacy a Passion of mine. If I can impact households to raise themselves out of poverty and allow them to raise children without poverty being a risk-factor for them, then I strongly believe that our keiki will have higher rates to strive and succeed.
Furthermore, I wanted to look at statistics of the state of Hawaii and this is what I found:
- In 2011, the number of poor children Under age 6 living in Poverty Households in the State of Hawaii totaled 28,085.
That is 28,085 of our state's babies, who if are exposed to poverty for at least half of their childhood, will be more likely for teenage pregnancy, school failure, and inconsistent employment in adulthood in the United States.
I have a huge task ahead of me, but I am determined to fight the poverty epidemic and my weapon of choice is education through Financial Literacy. Who is ready to go to battle with me?
Reference:
D. Lempers, D. Clark-Lempers, and R. Simons, "Economic Hardship, Parenting, and Distress in Adolescence," Child Development 60, no. 1 (1989)
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