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Seeing the potential for a national public TV series sponsored by America’s credit unions, the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) Board authorized a three-year commitment worth nearly $2 million to produce “Biz Kid$.” This represents the single largest grant commitment ever by NCUF. Earlier this year, the Illinois Credit Union Foundation awarded a $2,500 grant for the Biz Kids$ project.
Biz Kid$ will be produced by the Emmy Award-winning creators of the PBS/Disney series “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” which reached 10 million students every week. By sharing the new show in classrooms across the country and partnering with Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide, their vision is for Biz Kid$ to do for financial education what Bill Nye did for science education.
 “Biz Kid$ is a very visible and exciting project,” according to Washington Credit Union Foundation (WCUF) Executive Director RoxAnne Kruger-Monahan, the State Credit Union Foundation Network’s representative on the NCUF Board. “Based on the funding commitments already received from the credit union movement, along with NCUF support through existing Callahan Fund dollars, we believe Biz Kid$ is well positioned for sustainable success.”
The WCUF collected pledges for nearly $2 million leading into the contract signing. Kruger-Monahan also emphasized that in underwriting the Biz Kid$ program, “credit unions essentially receive a national cooperative branding campaign reaching millions of families through television and millions of children through classrooms.”
The creators’ vision is to produce at least 39 half-hour episodes of Biz Kid$ to educate children and their families about personal finance. The show would initially be scheduled to air once a week on PBS stations in markets from Seattle to Rochester, N.Y. Once enough episodes are produced to begin a daily rotation, the show would be presented to air every weekday in a suggested time slot throughout the PBS system.
Through the JA network, the Biz Kid$ curriculum would be integrated into 20,000 schools. JA would help open the doors for credit union staff and volunteers to teach financial literacy to 4 million students in 178,000 classrooms. Collateral materials could include a Biz Kid$ website, interactive DVDs, Small Business Start-up Kits, Biz Kid$ Club Card, and micro-credit loans at participating credit unions for kids starting small businesses.
“This will be the most powerful partnership in the history of financial education,” predicted David Chernow, CEO of JA Worldwide.
WCUF Chairman, Bob Schumacher, reiterated remarks he made as a steward of the project from conception, “On March 30th at the initial BizKid$ Summit I announced, ‘We are making a TV show.’ Today that promise is a reality. We’ve officially entered into what may be the greatest, most innovative partnership and promotion in the history of credit unions.”
Darrell Luzo, Sr. Vice President of Education, JA Worldwide gave the keynote address at the National Youth Involvement Board (NYIB) Conference in San Antonio during August. In addition, “BizKid$” filmed segments for upcoming programs at the NYIB Conference.
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