The Curriculum
Six Missions. Real Skills. Lasting Impact.
The Family Financial Literacy Lab takes middle and high school students through six real-world financial missions — moving from foundational knowledge to applied decision-making, with their families alongside them every step of the way.
Our Approach
What Makes the Lab Different
Most financial literacy programs teach students what a budget is. The Family Financial Literacy Lab teaches students how to build one, adjust it when income falls short, and explain the tradeoffs to their family. That shift — from knowing to doing — is what creates lasting financial capability.
Students make real choices, solve real problems, and explain real tradeoffs — not just answer quiz questions.
Structured activities bring students and parents together to apply what students are learning at home.
Designed specifically for middle and high school students at a critical stage of financial habit formation.
After-school, evening family events, weekend programming, and Community School integration.
The Curriculum
The Six Missions
Each mission builds on the last — taking students from financial values and goals through earning, spending, budgeting, saving, and protecting their money.
Our Family's Money Choices
Students connect financial choices to personal values and priorities, and set meaningful short- and long-term goals. The family connection activity opens a conversation about what money means in their household.
How Families Earn and Build Opportunities
Students explore how people earn income and how education, skills, and career choices shape financial outcomes over a lifetime. Families discuss their own earning experiences and what they've learned.
Planning and Managing Family Money
Students build budgets, respond to financial constraints, and make decisions when income and expenses don't align. The family activity brings these scenarios home — literally — with household budget conversations.
Borrowing Carefully and Keeping Commitments
Students explore how borrowing works, what it costs, and what it means to make and keep financial commitments. Families discuss how credit and debt have shaped their own financial decisions.
Growing Family Financial Security
Students establish savings goals, develop strategies to reach them, and explore how families build financial security over time. Families set a shared savings goal and track progress together.
Protecting Our Family's Money
Students explore banking tools and accounts while learning to recognize fraud, scams, and risky financial situations. A critical capstone that connects financial capability to financial safety.
Bring the Lab to Your Community
Corporate and community partners help expand access to the Family Financial Literacy Lab for schools and families who may not otherwise have the opportunity to participate. Your investment builds financial capability that lasts a lifetime.