Jaycke Mata: Good morning. My name is Jaycke Mata. I’m an 11th grade scholar here at the Laboratory School of Finance and Technology. I’ve been attending 223 since the 6th grade, and I’m in the business pathway. For the past two years, I’ve gotten the opportunity to take the personal finance and business management classes as part of my daily schedule.
During the past year, I’ve learned about loans, investing, bank accounts, retirement plans, and much more. With this knowledge, we’ve been able to partner up with Junior Achievement and help educate elementary students in P.S. 49 about the basics of personal finance. To wrap up my first year in the business pathway, I took the W!SE financial literacy exam. This confirms that I am financially prepared for my future as a high school student.
Being financially literate impacts my understanding of money by allowing me to have more confidence in my financial decisions. Unfortunately, not many kids my age, or even adults for that matter, can say they’re financially literate, especially in my community. My classmates and I are money smart, empowered, and ready to provide for ourselves and our families.
This upcoming winter, I will have the great opportunity to attend Hostos Community College and take the Business 101 course, Introduction to Business, as part of my future ready pathway. This allows me to build a bridge to a potential business major in my collegiate studies. In District 7, our vision is that we are the bridge to generational success, and I am proud to work towards that vision every day with my classmates.
I’d like to shout out our business teachers, Mr. Robinson and [Ms. Bowman], and our principal, Mr. Lincoln. And I can’t wait for our schools to have access to in-school banking, matched savings opportunities, and financial counseling. We would also like to express our gratitude to Mayor Adams and his administration for paying attention to communities like ours. Please welcome the mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: Wow, wow, wow. You know, this is the mayor in, what, 2035? Yeah, yeah.
Deputy Mayor Adolfo Carrión, Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce: I’m going to be his campaign manager.
Mayor Adams: Very, very impressive. You know, very articulate. Clarity of, I think there are three skills that often are not given to our young people throughout the city. One is public speaking. If you can stand in front of a crowd and speak as well as you just did, your future is bright. The second is what we’re doing here, and commissioner, you gave birth to this, you carried it, financial literacy.
If you were to do a survey throughout our city and our country, not only here in New York, New York is a microcosm from what’s playing out across the globe, particularly in Black and brown communities. If you were to walk through Washington Heights and say, ‘what does financial literacy mean?’ children won’t understand it. But if you would walk through the Upper East Side, Park Slope, Cobble Hill, they would know clearly what it means.
These soft skills that we are teaching our young people are going to give them a start in life. My son left American University debt free because we instilled in him financial literacy over and over and over and over again. How to manage your money, what it is to have a checking account, not to have high interest credit cards.
My credit score was devastating when I left college because I didn’t have that understanding. Mommy didn’t know what financial literacy was. We lived from paycheck to paycheck. We didn’t know about investing in ourselves first to build bank accounts, checking accounts, so many things these young people are going to have.
If you don’t manage your finances, you will lose your finances. And there are institutions in our communities, communities of color. They prey on our paychecks, check cash in location, high interest rate, vehicles that you purchase. It just starts us off that we’re never focused on how to be financially sound. And when you’re not financially sound, you’re always catching up and you never really appreciate your life. And that is what we’re doing.
And by having in-school banking and what we started out with, of doing this credit literacy and opening the banks inside our schools. And thousands of children are going to be able to start out their lives the right way because you can’t just be academically smart. You have to be emotionally intelligent and you must be financially literate. And if you don’t develop the full personhoods of our students, then you’re setting them up to be factory employees instead of owning their own corporations and being able to see what they want to accomplish in their life. That’s what we’re doing.
The legacy that we have started, and I’m hoping the next administration continues, is to stop treating our children as second class citizens. That they’re only going to have to work for someone and not work for themselves. And that is why we’re doing this. When you don’t manage your money on average, you lose about $1,500 a year that could go to the things and necessities that you must have in your life.
And so, today we’re announcing our landmark Financial Literacy for Youth Initiative. And it’s going to teach every public school student how to save and spend money by [2030]. You cannot wear your finances on your back. You cannot have it on your pocketbooks or red bottom shoes. You have to invest. If you invest now, you can spend later. But you’ll start to build up the currency you need.
So, we already announced the first 15 school districts to get financial educators through this program. These educators will provide counseling and lead workshops and create classroom curriculum. This is just good stuff. And we are taking the next step forward with our in-school banking branch and our partners who are here.
We really want to thank them. Bank of America, Citizen Bank, TD Bank, Urban Upbound, Credit Union and many more for understanding if you invest in these children today, you are actually going to have a win-win relationship because they will invest in your banks as well.
Branches will help students open a safe, affordable bank account, lead educational workshops for students and their families, and help students start careers in banking and finance. I may be dating myself, but we used to have the little bank books growing up. We used to put money in school in a little bank account. So, we know if we bring financial services and education directly into schools, we are helping break cycles of inequality instead of perpetuating them over and over again.
In the first five years of this program, we are anticipating having over 350,000 students that will benefit from this program. This is just how you break the cycle of poverty in their family members as well. Because the family members need it just as the students need it. And what we’ve learned, particularly in households where English is the second language, when students learn something, they go home and they empower the family. And that family grows from this experience.
So, there’s a large number of people with a short number of time that we have accomplished this task and we’re going to continue to move forward in the right direction. So, when you think about it, the number of New Yorkers whose lives will be changed because of this, will have a cascading impact throughout our entire city. But, this is one of many things we’ve done.
We’ve given 15,000 student jobs, training, and work experience to our Future Ready NYC. Connected more than 15,000 New Yorkers to apprenticeships, which is a great experience. And put over 100,000 young people into summer youth employment. And so the money that they make over the summer, they’re going to know how to spend it correctly throughout the entire year.
So, job well done. And I just want to turn it over to an amazing, amazing, amazing commissioner who has focused on this and you brought it to fruition. Your vision is now going to be actualized here in our school system. So, Commissioner Mayuga.
Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection: Thank you so much, Mayor Adams. And good morning, everyone. Still good morning, right? Yes. Okay. I am Vilda Vera Mayuga, commissioner of the most amazing agency, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. And, most importantly, the proud mom of two public school students. I have an 11-year-old and a 15-year-old, both in our amazing New York City public schools. Yes, I’m working, you know. That may be more work.
You know, recently, my 15-year-old was just sitting down at the table and shared with me, “I want to learn how to budget. Like right now, even if I have money, I don’t know what to do with it.” And I am sure no matter your age, we’ve all been there, right? And sadly, I didn’t have the education on financial literacy to pass on some knowledge to my daughter so I could answer that question confidently.
And knowing how to spend and save responsibly sooner is certainly going to help our children have more stable futures. I think we can all agree with that. And that is why today is such a big deal. It is such a big deal. For far too long, our kids, especially those from working class neighborhoods, like the mayor pointed out, maybe not so much on that end, have had to learn about money the hard way.
They see their parents juggling bills. They overhear words like debt and credit score. And they feel their stress about it. Parents try to hide these things from their kids, right? Because we don’t know how to talk about it. And nobody ever sits down then with our children, our youth, to explain what those mean. But that changes today.
We at DCWP are just so proud to help launch in-school banking, which is a bold new feature of our Financial Literacy For Youth Initiative and the 15 schools for the pilot. Through this groundbreaking program, students and families will be able to learn about banking right in their own schools. They’ll attend workshops, learn how to open bank accounts, explore careers in finance, all before graduating from high school.
And starting this school year, we’ll have financial educators in 15 school districts working directly with the students and their families, building a culture of financial health from the ground up. And we’ll bring actual banks into schools, safe, affordable options, including neighborhood credit unions that our families can trust. It really is nothing short of transformative.
This announcement is personal in many ways. When I was younger, like I told you earlier, I just didn’t have anyone to teach me about personal finance. For 25 years, I carried my student debt with me wherever I went. It followed me to work. It looked over my shoulder in the grocery aisle. And I felt it weigh me down whenever I looked at my children’s Christmas list.
It wasn’t until I walked into one of our financial empowerment centers years ago, in 2022, that I finally got the help that I needed. And our counselors didn’t just help me organize my finances, they allowed me to breathe again. Imagine if our kids never have to carry that burden in the first place. That’s our North Star. Making sure that every student learns how to save and spend money by 2030.
DCWP’s financial empowerment centers have helped tens of thousands of New Yorkers reduce their debt by more than $126 million. And increase their savings by more than $14 million. So now, with in-school banking, we’re just going to go even further in reaching our kids early. So that, every student here, you should know, the future is yours.
And I know we say that a lot academically and professionally, but money is just a real thing that we all need — We don’t need it, but we need to know how to spend and save responsibly. This is an investment on you.
Before I hand over the mic, I want to thank all of the collaborators and stakeholders for bringing this historic program to life. As always, DCWP, the Department of Consumer and Workers Protection, is here to help families reach their financial goal. Please do call 311, or you can visit nyc.gov/fly to learn more about our Financial Literacy For Youth Initiative. Thank you, and now it’s my pleasure to pass it over to Domenico Ciaccio. He’s the vice president and community reinvestment manager at one of our partnering banks, Ridgewood Savings.
Domenico Ciaccio, Vice President and Community Reinvestment Officer, Ridgewood Savings Bank: Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Mayor Adams, your administration, and thank you, commissioner. I was at an FDIC event, and we were asked, there’s a ton of CRA officers, community investment, we handle, this is part of our work. And we were asked, what is the most impactful thing you can do for students? And we mentioned financial literacy.
And the biggest hurdle with financial literacy has always been being able to get to the schools. And rightfully so, the principals are looking out for their students and didn’t want to make it just a sales pitch. Little did I know that the right people were in that room, and that’s our friends at DCWP. Right after then, it was meetings after meetings, getting together, a true passionate group, mayor, that truly cared about seeing this forward.
And to see it come to light today means a lot, because I strongly feel that when you teach a child, you teach a family. And financial literacy is big. And we’ve been around for over 102 years. We still have that passbook, and we still do the student accounts, yes. A little antiquated for some, but most really like it. And I must say, I think through this program, we’re going to be able to touch a lot of students. I’m happy to collaborate with a lot of banks on this as well. I think it’s going to go a long way.
I moved here from Sicily in 1996. I was a victim of signing up for a Jets credit card because they were giving out a free blanket. So that blanket ended up costing me probably a couple thousand dollars when you consider all the fees that were paid. So, congratulations really to the DCWP team, to the commissioner and Mayor Adams, to yourself and your administration for seeing this forward. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. So important. And when you think about what we have done with our students from the time we came into office, everything from healthy eating, changing the cafeterias, looking at the food so we don’t feed, healthcare crisis. When you look at the breathing exercises and meditations that we introduced to really deal with the emotional stress. These young people are going to have so many changes in their lives, particularly through social media.
Our teams talk, what we’re doing around mental health, allowing the use and access of their mobile devices to talk with a mental health professional. And the participation in that financial literacy. Just all of the ways of developing our children. The universe that they’re going to experience is far different from the ones we had to experience. And we have to give them the tools.
If they leave these academic institutions only knowing how to add, read, and multiply, they won’t be prepared. We’re giving them the tools to be prepared for the future. And we want to see that continue no matter who’s the mayor of the City of New York.
Let’s open up to a few questions. How are you?
Question: [Inaudible]. We are all student reporters from the Eagle Express, which is the school’s newspaper. And we have multiple questions that we would like to ask you. The first question is–
[Crosstalk.]
Question: The first question would be, did you have financial literacy when you were in high school, or a bank account?
Mayor Adams: No. We used to have these little books that they would give us, and we would make a deposit early, and it started up. But we had no financial literacy at all. We had checks cashed in places all throughout our community. Mom used to go to the corner store, and she’d purchase something. They’d put it in a little black composition book, and they would charge interest on it.
For every dollar we made, that my parents made, 25 cents out of every dollar probably went to paying for being in poverty. So, no, we had none at all.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. As I stated, when I graduated from college, my credit score was low. I was dealing with real financial issues, and I was living from paycheck to paycheck to paycheck. I didn’t have any real savings account, and I didn’t realize when you were late on paying your bills, it would go on your credit score. I didn’t even know what a credit score was.
And once I learned, it took me about seven years to turn around my credit score. I learned when I tried to purchase my first co-op. They looked at my credit score, and they said, your credit score is terrible, and we’re going to charge you a higher interest rate because your credit score is bad. And so, bad credit costs you money, and it was a learning experience for me that I was able to turn over to my son.
Question: In addition, we would also like to know, what made you choose our school for today’s press conference?
Mayor Adams: Because of the great work that you’re doing. You have a great principal, and most importantly, his first name is Eric, so that goes a long way. But no, this school, when I heard about this school, I was impressed, and I think your ambassador, who spoke today, really shows how this school is moving in the right direction.
Disciplined, well-dressed, these hallways are clean, well-managed, and we knew this was the best place to do it. Job well done. To the faculty and staff that’s here, job well done.
Question: What are the main goals you hope to accomplish through this initiative, and how would you measure its success?
Mayor Adams: If you leave high school, and you know how to manage your money, that is just such a great start in life. If you’re not going into college in credit card debt, if you know what a credit card is, interest rates, what a checking account means, how to pay yourself first, no matter how much. Put that 10 percent aside for yourself.
If you leave here being able to engage in real conversations with your parents at home, when they start to say, “I’m going to apply for this credit card,” and you say, “No, mom, dad, there’s a better way to do it,” that would mean a lot because now we’re breaking the cycle of poverty. That’s the goal. The goal is not to hand down poverty from one generation to the next generation.
When you start engaging now, if you’re already in school talking about, “Okay, when I purchased my first home,” home ownership, not a lifetime of renting. When you start talking about, “I want to start my own business,” this financial literacy conversation is going to take you into avenues that you cannot imagine. You’re going to start seeing money differently.
So, the commissioner I cannot thank her enough for just seeing this vision through, and I’m hoping that this becomes contagious. People have been playing us. They’ve been in our communities, taking our money from us, instead of investing in our community and investing in ourselves. If you don’t feel that you’re in financial control, you’re enslaved to other people, and we are here to give you freedom.
Question: Mr. Mayor, obviously, a huge undertaking here in partnership with the financial institutions especially. And I know Chancellor Aviles-Ramos simultaneously down at Tweed was making an announcement with the Hidden Voices Initiative. You mentioned your hope that this work will continue into the next administration.
What is your level of confidence as it relates specifically to these educational initiatives that they will continue, and do you think there’s a chance that Chancellor Aviles-Ramos will be able to continue her work in the role?
Mayor Adams: Well, I think that, number one, in the Hidden Voices, that’s another– I forgot about that when I mentioned what we’ve done. These students need to see themselves in the books, in the literature, and the education process, and we don’t. When we went to school, I didn’t have Hispanic literature. I didn’t have Chinese literature. I didn’t have literature from African American writers. It was just one-dimensional. Matter of fact, we used to celebrate if we saw someone Hispanic on TV or saw an African American on TV. So Hidden Voices is part of that.
Listen, being a mayor is a relay race. You hand off the baton. All I know is I ran the hell out of my mile, and I gave the city a good head start. I’m going to hand off that baton, and I’m hoping the next administration will look at what we’ve done, build on it, and bring their own flair to it, as I did with the former mayor, Mayor de Blasio.
But once I hand off that baton, it’s a wrap. I did my mile. I’m here to critique the next mile that’s being run. I have a lot of confidence in the city and these institutions. The Department of Education is going to be here no matter who’s the mayor. They’re going to invest in these children. They’re going to love these children. They’re going to give them everything that they need, and we just need to be as supportive as possible.
I did that. I gave them some of the best raises that they’ve ever seen from a mayor. I held them harmless during the cuts that were facing the city. I continued the programs. I did what I was supposed to do, and now I’m turning over the baton to the next mayor.
Question: Did you or your team talk to the mayor-elect about this pilot you’re launching or his transition team about this pilot you’re launching, and is there anything in the pilot that prevents the incoming socialist mayor from ridding the schools of monopolistic capitalist bankers? Anything that actually could see this going?
Mayor Adams: I love when I get those questions. When the question came from the student reporters, they were so nice.
[Crosstalk.]
What we’re doing, and I’m really proud of what we’re doing, we are creating a transition document. All of our deputy mayors and our commissioners, we’re going to turn over a document that is going to explain programs like this. It’s going to talk about what we’ve done around public safety, healthy eating, housing, Deputy Mayor Carrión, breaking records on building housing.
So, we’re going to turn over a good document for the mayor and his team, the incoming mayor-elect and his team to sit down and look at and say, this is something we want to continue, this is something that we don’t want to continue. That’s up to them to do that. And we’re going to talk about some of the things that were not successful, and we’re going to say maybe you can figure out a better way to do it because we weren’t able to accomplish that.
The joy is we have so many wins. The next mayor can build on that. I think Mayor de Blasio made an error. He did some good things with pre-K and others, but he made an error not continuing what Mayor Bloomberg did on 311. There should have been an AI component to it. It should have evolved. We built on what Mayor de Blasio left for us.
And so, mayors that are smart will continue to do so. And I’m not sure what type of banking system they have in socialist countries, but I like capitalism. I’m a capitalist. I think in this country you could be a dishwasher, own a chain of restaurants, and hire other people to do so. I’m a believer in the form of government that’s in this country.
Only in this country can you be a young man with dyslexia and then become the mayor of the City of New York. And so, this system works for me, and I’m sure it’s going to continue to work. Thank you.
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