 Dr. Robert V. Lee III speaks with President Bush at Financial Literacy Roundtable
The Rev. Dr. Robert V. Lee III and six other leading financial literacy experts representing a variety of local, national and international organizations, met with President George W. Bush and key members of his Cabinet for more than an hour on Wednesday April 25, to discuss ways to improve financial literacy in America. The Financial Literacy Roundtable discussion represents the first time in U.S. history that a presiding president has made financial literacy a national priority. Joining Dr. Lee for a private meeting with President Bush in the Roosevelt Room of the White House were Theodore Beck, president and CEO of the National Endowment for Financial Education (Greenwood Village, CO); David Chernow, president and CEO of Junior Achievement Worldwide (Colorado Springs, CO); David Mancl, president of the Wisconsin Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy (Madison, WI); Harriet May, president and CEO, Government Employees Credit Union (El Paso, TX); John Hope Bryant, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE (Los Angeles, CA); and Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, president of the Charles Schwab Foundation (San Francisco, CA). Representing FreshMinistries, recipient of the U.S. Treasury Department’s 2005 John Sherman Award for Excellence in Financial Education, and other community outreach and faith-based organizations, Dr. Lee stated: “It is time for caring people and institutions everywhere to partner in eliminating the ravages of poverty. Working holistically to provide housing, health initiatives, proper education, and economic redevelopment, we can create the kind of assets in hard-hit communities that can level the playing field. Together we can, and must, raise-up a generation of children who have the opportunity to live healthy, happy, productive lives.” During the meeting, participants encouraged President Bush and attending key members of his Cabinet, including Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Secretary of HUD Alphonso Jackson, U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, chair of the new Presidential initiative, to make financial education for adults and children a national priority in America. The panel of experts stressed that the economic health of the American family, as well as the country as a whole, depends on organizations bringing together resources to create real, practical financial education options and opportunities for American families. FreshMinistries, an ecumenical humanitarian non-profit organization, creates and partners with initiatives and outreach programs that work in concert with one other to address the “6 Points” necessary in a community (Education, Affordable Housing, Economic Development, Health, Strengthening Families, and Safety and Security) for people to break the cycle of poverty and live healthy, productive lives.
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