KeyBank & Young Americans Team Up To Provide Financial Literacy Education To Thousands Of Students

DENVER - March 14, 2016 - PRLog -- Young Americans Center for Financial Education, which provides financial education for young people, is pleased to announce that KeyBank and the KeyBank Foundation, both committed to encouraging personal financial literacy, have joined in a financial partnership to help increase the reach of Young AmeriTowne On the Road. On Monday, March 14, at 9:00 a.m. Young Americans will host a Grand Opening Ceremony at 3840 S Wadsworth Blvd, Lakewood, CO 80235. Representatives from KeyBank, KeyBank Foundation, and Young Americans will join students from Park Hill Elementary, a Denver Public School, as they participate in the award-winning Young AmeriTowne program.

On the Road is Young Americans' most important initiative, taking the flagship educational program, Young AmeriTowne, into smaller and rural communities, serving more at-risk students. Young AmeriTowne is a unique "hands-on, real-life" lesson in free enterprise that introduces young people between the ages of 10 to 12 to the basic principles of our economic system. At the program's culminating event, students work in business teams to run their own town of nine shops for a day. KeyBank's donation supported the construction of a new, second built environment and continues the development of the infrastructure of the On the Road experience.

"KeyBank has long been a pillar for financial literacy across the United States. in the past, they have supported our entrepreneurship program, in addition to being long-time sponsors of our Young AmeriTowne initiative," said Young Americans Center President and CEO, Richard Martinez. "Through this new, expansive partnership, thousands more students from the Denver Metro area will be able to have the unique Young AmeriTowne experience that so wonderfully teaches young people to be financially responsible."

The Young AmeriTowne program offers students far more than simply the nuts and bolts of balancing checkbooks - it includes enterprise literacy, civics, community engagement, workforce development, and more, all aligned with the new Colorado educational standards. The Young AmeriTowne program:

·     Provides 5th graders a hands-on experience in how money moves through a free enterprise economy;

·      Is structured around a blended-learning model where teachers prepare students with 30 hours of classroom lessons using comprehensive resources provided by Young Americans Center for Financial Education; and

·      Culminates in a day in towne where students working in business teams run their own economy of nine businesses and a local government.

Young AmeriTowne On the Road debuted in October 2014 in Denver's Five Points neighborhood. The program has since travelled to Pueblo, Grand Junction, Greeley and the Denver metro area. Upcoming stops include Durango. Since its launch, the program has already reached 2,392 students at small and at-risk urban schools with expected reach of over 5,100 students in the first two school years.

On the Road Attendance 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 School Years

Dates |  Location |  Students Served
October 2014  - Denver metro  - 200
November - December 2014  Pueblo - 458
March - April 2015 - Denver metro - 750
September 2015 - Grand Junction - 514
December 2015 - Greeley - 210
December 2015 - Pueblo - 260
March - June 2016*  -  Denver metro - On the Road 2 - 2,356
April - May 2016* - Durango -  400
Total      5,148

         *Estimated

About Young Americans Center for Financial Education

Young Americans Center for Financial Education is a nonprofit organization committed to developing the financial literacy of young people, up to age 22, through real life experiences and hands-on programs. The Center fulfills its mission by offering programs that complement and reinforce each other to build life skills, work skills and financial self-sufficiency. These include Young AmeriTowne, International Towne, YouthBiz, Money Matters classes, summer camps, and more. In addition, Young Americans Center houses the only real bank in the world for young people, Young Americans Bank, which shares the same educational mission of teaching children to be financially responsible. Since 1987, more than 675,000 youth have participated in the programs or bank. For more information on the Young Americans Center for Financial Education, visit www.yacenter.org.

About KeyBank Foundation

KeyBank Foundation, a nonprofit charitable foundation funded by KeyCorp, makes philanthropic investments in organizations and programs that promote economic self-sufficiency for families, neighborhoods, and communities. The Foundation's three primary areas of philanthropic focus are financial education, workforce development and diversity. In each of the past seven years, through philanthropy, corporate contributions, and volunteerism, Key has given on average approximately $18 million annually to nonprofit organizations in states where KeyBank has a presence. To learn more about the KeyBank Foundation, visit https://www.key.com/foundation.

About KeyBank

KeyBank N.A. is part of KeyCorp, one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies with assets of approximately $94 billion. Key  provides deposit, lending, cash management and investment services to individuals, small and medium-sized business under the name KeyBank National Association. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBank Capital Markets trade name.

For more information about Key, visit www.key.com, or follow Key on Twitter at @KeyBank_News or @KeyBank_Thrive.

Banking products and services are offered by KeyBank National Association. Key.com is a federally registered service mark of KeyCorp. ©2015 KeyCorp. KeyBank is Member FDIC