Former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marques Colston, a research fellow with UNO’s Urban Entrepreneurship and Policy Institute, talks with students during a financial literacy class.
Two former New Orleans Saints teammates, wide receiver Marques Colston and fullback Jed Collins, have teamed up with University of New Orleans professor Chris Surprenant to offer a financial education program for high school students. This initiative aims to provide students with practical financial education and empower them to make informed decisions about their finances.
This partnership brings together two programs: Collins’s Money Vehicle, a comprehensive semester long, standards-based financial literacy curriculum, which includes an interactive textbook and resources for in-classroom instruction; and Colston’s Dollars to Dreams, an app-based tool to help high school students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and acquire the knowledge and skills relevant to financial education through entrepreneurship.
Both programs are informed by Surprenant’s academic research into what makes high school financial education programs more or less effective. Surprenant is a professor of ethics, strategy, and public policy, and director of UNO’s Urban Entrepreneurship and Policy Institute.
“The opportunity to bring financial literacy resources to schools in Louisiana and beyond is incredibly rewarding,” Colston said. “This partnership between Dollars to Dreams, the University of New Orleans and Money Vehicle will make a positive impact in communities across the region.”
Recently, the Louisiana Department of Education has added Money Vehicle as an approved vendor on its Personal Financial Literacy Instruction Clearinghouse. This approval comes at a crucial time as Louisiana seeks to fulfill the requirements of a new state law, which mandates the completion of a one-unit financial literacy course for high school graduation. The course covers a range of topics, including managing bank accounts, money management principles, understanding credit and navigating financial transactions.
“We are honored to be recognized by the Louisiana Department of Education and to contribute to the state's efforts in aligning to the new state mandate and promoting financial literacy among its students,” Collins said. "Our mission is to empower individuals with the knowledge and tools they need to make informed financial decisions, and we are excited to partner with Marques and Chris to provide educators in Louisiana an opportunity to achieve this goal.”
The Louisiana Department of Education's Personal Financial Literacy Instruction Clearinghouse serves as a centralized repository of instructional materials and information to support local school systems in implementing effective financial education programs. By providing access to vetted resources, the clearinghouse aims to facilitate the delivery of high-quality financial literacy instruction across the state, which includes the Money Vehicle curriculum.
“Academics always want their research to have real-world impact. For the past few years, we’ve been working to better understand how high school entrepreneurship impacts financial education, as well as how we can improve the effectiveness of high school financial education,” Surprenant said. “This partnership will allow us to provide a turnkey financial education course to high schools throughout our region, a course that is informed by what we have learned has the greatest impact.”
For the next two years, high schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina will be able to get access to Money Vehicle and Dollars to Dreams for their financial education courses at no cost due to grant funding secured by Surprenant and Colston. To participate, visit dollarstodreams.org or YourMoneyVehicle.com.
