Biz Kid$ Wins Wegner Award for Outstanding Program |
America’s Credit Unions Underwrite 3 Successful Seasons of Financial Education Series on National Public Television |  SEATTLE (8/29/09)—The Emmy Award-winning Biz Kid$ program—the first national television series ever sponsored by credit unions—will win the National Credit Union Foundation’s 2010 Wegner Award for Outstanding Program.
“First Biz Kid$ won the highest national honors in the television industry. Now it will win the highest national honors in the credit union movement!” observed Missouri Corporate Credit Union President & CEO Dennis DeGroodt, who chaired NCUF’s Awards & Recognition Committee during the deliberations on Outstanding Program nominations. |
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This will be one of four awards presented at the 22nd Annual Wegner Awards Dinner hosted by the National Credit Union Foundation on February 22, 2010.
For the third straight year, the gala dinner will take place at the spectacular Grand Hyatt Washington on the Monday night of the Credit Union National Association’s 2010 Governmental Affairs Conference.
Online registration will be available on November 16, 2009. |
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Biz Kid$ Makes Television History |  While today Biz Kid$ won its first Emmy Award, the program has already made television history.
After just three seasons, Biz Kid$ is the highest-carried program on American Public Television.
At least once a week, 334 PBS stations serving 50 states and DC broadcast Biz Kid$ to more than 112 million households – including more than 230 million people over age two. This represents 97% of the public television market and exceeds all American Public Television children's programs in carriage by 30%.
Most PBS stations are airing Biz Kid$ in prime time slots for children’s viewing: on weekdays after school and on weekend mornings. |
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Credit Unions Support Biz Kid$ |  Every Biz Kid$ episode begins and ends with a student pulling down a projection screen over a classroom blackboard to reveal the America’s Credit Unions logo.
With a class full of students watching, a narrator reminds viewers that “Production funding for Biz Kid$ is provided by America’s Credit Unions, where people are worth more than money.”
“As CEO of an educational credit union, I saw the value and potential of this innovative program from early on,” reflected Rudy Hanley, president & CEO of SchoolsFirst Credit Union in Santa Ana, Calif., one of Biz Kid$’ many financial supporters since its inception. “Through the Biz Kid$ program, credit unions are at the forefront of teaching youth about financial independence and social entrepreneurship. The return for our investment has been the promotion of credit unions’ core values of self-help, economic empowerment, and volunteerism.”
Every Biz Kid$ episode includes four stories from successful young entrepreneurs reinforcing the importance of budgeting, saving, and giving back to their community. Several of the featured youth have joined credit unions to achieve their dreams.
“Our vision is for Biz Kid$ to do for financial education what Bill Nye did for science,” explained Executive Producer Jamie Hammond, an Emmy Award-winning creator of Bill Nye the Science Guy. “Biz Kid$ is designed to engage young people with fun, fast-paced programming that will help them develop life skills in financial literacy and entrepreneurship. To accomplish this goal, each episode focuses on a specific learning objective.” |
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Students & Parents Like Biz Kid$ |  “I liked it when they interviewed kids from all over the United States,” said Tommy Webster, an 11-year-old who watches Biz Kid$ regularly on the series’ flagship station, WXXI in Rochester, N.Y. “I learned how I could save money and spend it the right way without blowing it!”
“My oldest son, who is 13, is saving money for the first time,” reported Cynthia Carrasco, a Biz Kid$ viewer in Tulsa, Okla. “I believe my son is going to grow up to be a better man because of Biz Kid$. You have been an inspiration to us all.” |
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| More than a Hit TV Series | | Biz Kid$ is much more than a hit TV series. Biz Kid$ is also a popular financial education curriculum.
All 39 episodes of Biz Kid$ come with lesson plans, teaching materials, and activities that meet national financial literacy standards. Biz Kid$’ curriculum was developed by a credit union advisory group and Outreach Extensions, creator of educational materials for Bill Nye the Science Guy, Liberty’s Kids, Kratts’ Creatures, and other teachable public television series. |
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| Biz Kid$ Reaches Classrooms & Communities | | Credit union professionals and volunteers, as well as school teachers, are teaching the lessons from Biz Kid$ in classrooms. Many are extending their outreach to after-school programs such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs, and 4-H. All curriculum and collateral materials are available on CD-ROM or via free download on the interactive Biz Kid$ website, www.bizkids.com. Expanded core curriculum for five modules is available in both Spanish and English.
In just the past year, over 64,000 teachers have used the Biz Kid$ curriculum to educate 9.2 million students. Many of these students are in low-income districts. |
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 Credit union educational staff and volunteers who use the Biz Kid$ curriculum earn credit for their presentations from the National Youth Involvement Board (NYIB).
Since Biz Kid$ was linked to www.nyib.org in March 2009, nearly 800 credit union financial educators have reported using the Biz Kid$ curriculum in presentations to classrooms and other youth events.
“Biz Kid$ is a valuable addition to the NYIB presentation reporting platform,” said NYIB Chairman Brandon Pugh, director of communications & public relations for the South Carolina Credit Union League. “Biz Kid$ is a peerless program. It answers the need for material to reach students between grades four and eight, now that the effectiveness of teaching financial concepts early and often is even clearer.”
“Biz Kid$ appeals directly to what we do each and every day,” emphasized NYIB Member Heather Harris, vice chairman of the Michigan Credit Union League’s Financial Education Council. “At a Credit Union Development Educators’ workshop, I had the pleasure to visit the Biz Kid$ studio and was incredibly impressed with the young people involved, the credit union partnership, and the financial education content of each show.”
“Curriculum development and community educational outreach have always been an important component of this project,” explained Biz Kid$ Project Manager RoxAnne Kruger, executive director of the Washington Credit Union Foundation and senior VP of Member & Business Development for the Washington Credit Union League. “The Biz Kid$ outreach materials represent 78 entertaining and informative classroom hours for students.”
“The Biz Kid$ DVD and curriculum sets the stage for a great learning environment,” reported Eric Sperstad, a volunteer teacher in Illinois. “After showing the DVD, I use the online worksheets and open up for discussion. Kids immediately take the concepts and ask how it can work for them.” |
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Biz Kid$ Passes the Test |  An initial evaluation of the curriculum was conducted in five pilot schools:
95% of teachers found that the Biz Kid$ lessons presented “valuable” and “age-appropriate” information.
72% of the students even felt that the lessons were “fun” and “interesting.”
“The fast-paced approach appeals to young people; kids value that the classroom topics are connected to real-world applications,” related Marlon Kiser, president & CEO of WGTE Public Media, which partners with school districts to present Biz Kid$ lessons throughout northwest Ohio. “Biz Kid$ has proven to meet educational goals and has certainly found an audience.” |
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Senator & Judge Join the Audience |  Count U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) among Biz Kid$’ growing audience:
“As a parent and former pre-school teacher, I appreciate this program that empowers children to take charge of their financial future,” Sen. Murray wrote in support of Biz Kid$’ Wegner Award nomination.
“I often hear the same refrain from constituents: ‘I wish they had taught this stuff in school!’” |
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 So to does U.S. Banruptcy Court Judge John C. Ninfo, II:
“Biz Kid$ is part of the solution to overcoming our national epidemic of financial illiteracy," wrote Judge Ninfo, shown here teaching Credit Abuse Resistance Education.
"Biz Kid$ provides many young people with a roadmap of how to improve not only their own lives, but to pursue and capitalize on opportunities that might help to improve the lives of their family members.” |
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Biz Kid$ Changes Lives! |  “Participating in the show changed my life,” concluded 13-year-old Ben Weymiller, the first social entrepreneur profiled in a Biz Kid$ episode. “If it had not been for Biz Kid$, I probably would have enjoyed my first project and then stopped. Since being on the show I have raised more money for the hospital, volunteered my time at a hospital fundraiser, volunteer tutored kids in math, and currently I’m raising money to sponsor a tree at the next hospital holiday fundraiser."
"Through Biz Kid$, I learned that my opportunities to make a difference are just beginning.” |
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| About Biz Kid$ LLP: | |
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 | | The Biz Kid$ team is best known for creating and producing Bill Nye the Science Guy. The Bill Nye series received multiple awards – 27 national Emmys (including two for Outstanding Children’s Television Series) – and in 1999 received the National Science Board Public Service Award, among others. Over the past decade, the producers have also created over 275 episodes for PBS in the areas of How-To and Natural History. The team’s experience includes working with Danny Thomas, Bob Hope, David Letterman, Willie Nelson, Gary Coleman, and many others on projects for NBC, CBS, ABC, The Food Network, General Electric, General Motors, Microsoft, National Geographic, and President Bill Clinton. Other awards include two Gold Medals from the New York Festivals, the first Annenberg Foundation Award, two Monitor Awards, and two Environmental Media Awards.
Biz Kid$ is produced in high definition in association with WXXI Public Broadcasting in Rochester, N.Y. It is distributed by American Public Television.
Click here to see why Biz Kid$ won an Emmy!
The Biz Kid$ program is managed by the Washington Credit Union Foundation. National underwriters include a coalition of over 150 credit unions, credit union foundations, and other non-profits, service providers and individuals. A pledge form can be found on the Washington Credit Union League’s Biz Kid$ web page:
http://www.waleague.org/index.php?CURRENT_PAGE_ID=1571. |
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About the Washington Credit Union Foundation: |  The Washington Credit Union Foundation (WCUF) is a 501(c)3 philanthropic organization affiliated with the Washington Credit Union League. The WCUF engages in several endeavors, including consumer financial education, community outreach grants, small credit union development grants, scholarships, and disaster relief grants. |
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About the Wegner Awards: |  The Wegner Awards are named in honor of the late Credit Union National Association CEO Herb Wegner, whose tireless dedication, innovative ideas and deeds truly revolutionized the ways that credit unions serve their communities.
The awards that bear Wegner’s name recognize his spirit of “innovative, creative, risk-taking” leadership. |
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 NCUF is funded primarily by investments in the award-winning Community Investment Fund (CIF) and by Supporters led by the Credit Union National Association, CUNA Mutual Group, the Corporate Credit Union Network, Harland Clarke, WesCorp, CO-OP Financial Services, Card Services for Credit Unions, Fidelity National Information Services, and Visa. All NCUF donors provide support that empowers NCUF and state credit union foundations to make a real impact in the credit union community. |
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