One hundred public and school libraries will receive free books and resources through an effort to distribute diverse and inclusive financial literacy resources for children and young people. The giveaway is offered by the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation).
Library workers are invited to apply online to receive one of the kits for their library. Applications will be accepted until January 3, 2022. The application will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Please only submit one application per library or branch. Public and school libraries (serving children in grades K–8) located in the U.S. and U.S. territories are eligible to apply.
All Americans need to master the knowledge and skills to make smart financial choices and prepare for whatever the future brings. Unfortunately, books that seek to teach children and young people good financial habits often, perhaps unknowingly, lack diverse characters and reinforce harmful stereotypes.
ALA and the FINRA Foundation have collaborated with a team of librarian advisors to develop a book list that eschews stereotypes and embraces diversity in telling stories and sharing skills related to personal finance and financial capability for children.
One hundred participating libraries will receive a printed copy of the “Thinking Money for (ALL) Kids” book list with corresponding best practices and programming ideas for public and school libraries; a print copy of “Rainy Day Ready: Financial Literacy Programs and Tools” edited by Melanie Welch and Patrick Hogan for the ALA Public Programs Office (ALA Editions, 2020), a ready-to-use guide for library staff with 16 model financial capability programs; and one print copy of five books from the book list for libraries to add to their circulating collection.
A digital version of the “Thinking Money for (ALL) Kids” book list will be made available, free of charge, to the library field upon its completion in spring 2022. To be notified when the digital guide is available, sign up for ALA’s Programming Librarian newsletter.