07-R145

2007 -- H 6197

Enacted 03/27/07

H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N

DESIGNATING APRIL, 2007 AS "FINANCIAL LITERACY MONTH" IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

Introduced By: Representatives Costantino, Church, Moffitt, Lewiss, and Schadone

Date Introduced: March 27, 2007

     WHEREAS, There are several alarming trends mounting in our national personal

financial marketplace. Forty percent of Americans say they live beyond their means, and

personal bankruptcies have nearly doubled over the past decade. In 2005, the average savings

rate dipped to minus 0.5%, something that hasn't happened since the Great Depression in 1932

and 1933, and of the 4,000 students who took the Jump$tart Coalition national personal finance

survey in 2004, sixty-five percent received failing scores; and

     WHEREAS, The financial well-being of individual Rhode Island citizens is linked to our

state and nation's economic health; and

     WHEREAS, Personal financial literacy is linked to individual financial well-being; and

     WHEREAS, Personal financial literacy education involves active engagement on the part

of individual citizens and family units to an ongoing and evolving process; and

     WHEREAS, Governments, private businesses, community-based organizations, and

institutions of education are stakeholders in the pursuit of increased personal financial literacy,

and by working together, can help individual consumers make informed decisions about their

finances; and

     WHEREAS, The personal financial education of all citizens, especially young people and

other vulnerable populations, will improve the quality of their lives, provide them with the

necessary skills for success, and will contribute to making positive changes for the communities

in which they live and work; and

     WHEREAS, Public and private partnerships, such as the Rhode Island Jump$tart

Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, seek to improve the personal financial literacy of all

Rhode Islanders by promoting educational initiatives throughout our state; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations hereby proclaims April 2007 to be "Financial Literacy Month." We urge

all Rhode Islanders to take advantage of various programs and activities that will increase their

personal financial literacy both during April and throughout the year; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition.

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LC02751

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