$pending Frenzy Kits Have Arrived!

Posted on November 18, 2015 by rblauvelt

First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) is very excited to announce the release of the highly anticipated $pending Frenzy kit! The kit comes with everything you need to host a successful financial reality fair that will help prepare Native American youth for their “Big Money” (also known as a minor’s trust payment). Several satisfied customers have already ordered kits and begun implementing the popular financial simulation event in their home communities.

“Demand for the $pending Frenzy has been huge since its inception about five years ago,” stated chief architect of the kit, financial education consultant Shawn Spruce. “Moreover, the new kits now make the program scalable, allowing us to reach a much wider audience of Native youth.”

The $pending Frenzy financial reality fair was designed by First Nations to offer youth expecting a large minor’s trust payment an opportunity to practice handling a substantial lump sum of money and to spend it wisely. In the simulation, teens are given $40,000 in fake money and are required to make informed spending decisions to purchase a car, a house, groceries and other items. Students can practice visiting a bank to cash their check and deposit a share of their money into savings, and are also given the opportunity to learn about investing a portion of their money.

Surveys from $pending Frenzy events held in Native communities across the nation have revealed that more than 90% of participants found the event useful and believed they could use the information from the event to assist them in managing their money.

Since the first pilot of the $pending Frenzy with Seneca Nation youth in 2011, First Nations has helped facilitate the financial simulation about two dozen times in 12 different states and 18 unique communities across the country. In total, nearly 1,400 Native youth have participated in the event and learned to better manage their minor’s trust payments. Tribes, community organizations, schools and others have been in… well, a frenzy for the simulation! To keep up with the demand of the $pending Frenzy, First Nations answered the call by producing an all-in-one, do-it-yourself kit.

The box kit comes with everything you need to host a successful simulation, complete with all booth materials, a facilitator’s guide, stacks of play money, a professional bill counter, budgeting cards, $pending Frenzy merchandise and more! The all-inclusive kit can be yours for $1,200 and is sent free of charge to your door.

To place an order or to ask a question about the kit, please contact Sarah Dewees by phone at (540) 371-5615 or email at sdewees@firstnations.org.

By Benjamin Marks, First Nations Senior Research Officer

First Nations & Native America Calling Team Up on Radio Programs with Financial Focus

Posted on July 18, 2013 by rblauvelt

The national radio program Native America Calling and First Nations Development Institute teamed up this summer to offer a series of radio programs with a financial focus. The series, which first aired June 14, was broadcast each Friday through July 12.

In the first program, host Tara Gatewood and expert guests discussed common selling and lending practices by automobile dealers in and around Native communities. Calvin Lee, an attorney with Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, shared information about problems people have had with unethical car dealers near the Navajo Nation. A second broadcast featured a conversation about minor’s trust payments and how young people can successfully prepare for receiving these large payments, or their “Big Money.”

Another program provided information about how to use credit wisely. The remaining shows focused on “an Indigenous perspective on spending” and understanding retirement planning.

These programs were sponsored in part by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Each weekly broadcast included a brief conversation with the “financial warrior” known as Dr. Per Cap. Dr. Per Cap originated as an advice column sponsored by First Nations that was designed to assist individuals and families in becoming financially independent. On each program, producer Monica Braine consulted Dr. Per Cap for advice on a financial topic, and he shared his insights, advice and wisdom.

Native America Calling, produced by the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation (a Native-operated media center in Anchorage, Alaska), is a live, call-in program linking public radio stations, the Internet and listeners together in a thought-provoking national conversation about issues specific to Native communities. It is heard on more than 52 stations in the United States and Canada by approximately 500,000 listeners each week.

For more information about the radio show, please visit www.nativeamericacalling.com, and for information about the Dr. Per Cap advice columns, visit http://www.firstnations.org/AskDrPerCap.

By Sarah Dewees, First Nations Senior Director of Research, Policy & Asset-Building Programs, and Benjamin Marks, First Nations Research and Program Officer.

‘My Green’ Campaign Helps Native Youth Take Charge of Their Money

Posted on May 17, 2013 by rblauvelt

It’s called “Minor’s Trust,” “Big Money” or “18 Money,” and for a number of Native American youth, it represents a blessing and a curse.

A small number of tribes pay out dividends from tribal businesses, or per-capita payments, to their members. For tribal members who are age 17 or younger, these payments are usually held in a financial trust until the youth turns 18. At age 18 (although sometimes later) minors can apply for their minor’s trust payout and sometimes receive a very large payment. Thus, many young people are faced with the responsibility of managing their “Big Money” at a young age. With funding from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, First Nations launched the My Green campaign in April 2013 to help Native youth learn to manage their money. The main feature of the campaign is the My Green website at www.mybigmoney.org. It features four spokespeople – Native youth ages 17-23 – who present their stories about how they managed their Big Money. They share their lessons learned in a series of videos, and they serve as guides throughout the different components of the website. The site contains several money tools that Native youth can use to learn how to better manage their payments, including a Big Money simulation game that mirrors real-life spending decisions one must make. The website also features an advice column that covers a number of financial topics that are especially pertinent to Native youth receiving minor’s trust payments.

First Nations created the campaign and website in response to the demand to provide financial education to the growing number of Native youth who are receiving a large lump sum of money as part of their minor’s trust payout. Studies have shown that most Native American youth have very low rates of financial literacy, and are more likely to be “unbanked.” The national Financial Literacy of Native American Youth report (2007) showed that nearly 87% of Native American high school seniors in their study received a “failing” score in financial literacy. Similarly, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) found that 28.9% of American Indian and Alaska Natives are “underbanked,” and 15.6% are “unbanked.” With this low level of financial knowledge and high “unbanked” rate, Native youth who receive a large Minor’s Trust payment (sometimes amounting to $50,000 or more) are especially vulnerable to making poor financial decisions.

“Receiving a large minor’s trust payment when one turns 18 can be an exciting but also very stressful time for Native youth,” said Shawn Spruce, a program consultant for First Nations. “We are confident that the My Green website will offer these kids a number of valuable tools to explore how to invest in their future.”

First Nations will continue to promote the website at several conferences over the summer and fall, including hosting a My Green booth at The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) conference Oct. 29 – Nov. 3, 2013. We first launched the campaign at the Native American Financial Officers Association conference in April in Nashville, followed by the Gathering of Nations PowWow in Albuquerque.

To learn more about the My Green campaign, visit the website at www.mybigmoney.org, “like” the campaign on Facebook at MyGreenFNDI, or follow the effort on Twitter @mygreenfndi.