About the NJCFE

The goal of the New Jersey Coalition for Financial Education is to improve the personal financial literacy of New Jersey's citizens by promoting the teaching of personal finance to people of all ages. The Coalition believes that all citizens of New Jersey must have the financial literacy necessary to make informed financial decisions.

The Coalition meets every other month in a Central New Jersey location and consists of about 100 representatives of government agencies, schools, businesses, and non-profit organizations that provide financial education and related services. The Coalition is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization operated by an elected board of directors and conducts an annual audit of its finances.

From 2002 through 2007, the NJ Coalition for Financial Education has received $135,200 in external grant funding and successfully completed five funded financial education projects, with five more projects ongoing.

IMPACT

Since October of 2004 the NJCFE has proudly sponsored four conferences reaching over 700 educators and members regularly make presentations at NJEA and Department of Education conferences. Assuming, conservatively, that 700 educators taught 25 students each, NJCFE training has impacted 17,500 students.

With a $10,000 grant, currently developing “tabletop” reality simulation (uses gameboards instead of “storefronts”), NJCFE is hosting two teacher trainings to be provided in August 2007.

NJCFE uses behavior-focused evaluation instruments to assess impact and incentives are provided to increase the response rate. A six-month evaluation of the McGraw-Hill-funded conference found that 86% of respondents taught new personal finance topics to students.