By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams recently announced key details of the City’s “Financial Literacy for Youth” (FLY) initiative to make sure that every public school student can learn how to save and spend money by 2030.
As part of last Wednesday’s announcement, Adams unveiled the first 15 public school districts to receive financial educators, who will provide students and their families with free counseling and workshops starting this upcoming school year. Financial educators will also help develop classroom resources to build responsible financial habits. Financial educators will have specialized skills in leading workshops and trainings, as well as experience working with young people and families; they will support teachers and families to foster a financially-healthy environment for all school children. More than 350,000 public school students and family members will be served by financial educators through counseling, workshops, and other resources in the first five years of the program.
Ultimately, Hizzoner said, the City will place a financial educator in every single district by 2030 as part of its FLY initiative, making the Big Apple one of the first public school systems in the United States to deploy financial educators directly to schools and support students with this valuable resource. FLY will also pilot in-school banking to give students real-world exposure to safe and affordable banking options and explore additional ways to give students hand-on experience learning about saving and managing money.
In the coming school year, the City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection will deploy financial educators to 15 select public school districts to provide counseling and lead workshops for school children and their families. The first 15 participating school districts were selected based on high rates of unbanked neighborhoods and existing participation in City Schools’ FutureReadyNYC program, according to officials. In Queens, District 30—Astoria, Long Island City, Jackson Heights, and North Corona—is among the first FLY-participating school districts.
Ultimately, the Adams administration will expand youth financial empowerment counselors to all school districts, the mayor said. Additionally, FLY will provide in-school banking in underbanked communities to give students real-world exposure to safe and affordable banking options and explore additional ways to give students hand-on experience learning about saving and managing money.
FLY was informed by a public forum DCWP held in November 2024 to solicit insights and recommendations from students, teachers, families, and experts on the subject of youth financial empowerment and addressing the gaps in financial education and resources for young adults.
“Too many students leave high school knowing about chemical bonds but not Treasury Bonds; they learn how to do complex calculus but not how to do their taxes — that ends with our administration,” said Adams. “To succeed in the 21st century, students need to learn how to do both, which is why we set an ambitious goal of making sure that every public school student can learn how to save and spend money by 2030. Today’s announcement will help us reach that goal — giving students, their family members, and their teachers the resources to succeed. This time next year, when students in these 15 districts have a question about opening a bank account or buying their first stock, they’ll have a valuable new tool to use. We’re not stopping there though; soon, we’ll bring these counselors to every district and expand our Financial Literacy for Youth initiative to set even more of our public school students on the path towards success.”
