Mission Australia- Financial Education, Counselling and Community Hub

Mission Australia operates more than 450 services across metropolitan, rural and regional Australia- in every state and territory. Their programs combat homelessness; assist families and children to develop a solid foundation; support disadvantaged young people; deliver entry-level training; and help unemployed people find permanent work - getting them back on their feet.

Citi supports Mission Australia's Financial Education, Counselling and Community Hub in Campbelltown, in south west Sydney. The Hub aims to provide:

Prevention and early intervention programs to educate the local community about budgeting and how to access support early when families are at risk of financial crisis.
Crisis support to meet the immediate needs of people in financial crisis, through the provision of financial and gambling counselling.
Transitional and longer-term support to help break the cycle of hardship, with access to case management and referrals to employment services programs.

Youth Off The Streets- Smart Money program

Youth Off The Streets is a non-denominational community organisation working for young people who are homeless, drug dependent and recovering from abuse. They support these young people as they work to turn their lives around and overcome immense personal traumas such as neglect and physical, psychological and emotional abuse.

The newly developed, Citi funded Smart Money program aims to help young adults gain the basics of good financial management. Participating in a financial education program will provide the best opportunity for young people in Youth Off The Streets services to reach their full potential.

MakingCents

Starting financial education from an early age is key to setting good foundations for the future. MakingCents is a personal financial resource for primary school teachers and includes teaching resources, teacher professional development and a complementary program for parents.

The MakingCents program aims to ensure children learn at any early age the fundamentals of financial management, the difference between needs and wants and the importance of saving and minimising debt.

The Making Cents program not only aims to help students, but also encourages families to support their children's learning at home through a complementary program for parents. The MakingCents for Parents program provides information and practical ideas parents can introduce at home to expand their children's school knowledge and experience.

The MakingCents website www.makingcents.com.au has tips, hints and resources for parents and teachers to reinforce financial education.

MakingCents is a unique program in that materials have been matched to curricula of each state and territory. The MakingCents program has been delivered to over 3000 teachers across Australia through a teacher professional development program. Teachers report a very positive response from their students in their classrooms and highlight how important this learning is for the younger age group.

Financial Skills Assessment

The Financial Skills Assessment measures the financial literacy of Australian children aged between 10 and 12, against levels of achievement that are consistent with Australia's national financial literacy framework. It is an online tool, developed following requests from primary school teachers for a way to assess financial literacy amongst students. This online tool has been used to assess the financial literacy of 4,660 students in over 100 schools nationwide.

ASX Schools Sharemarket Games

Citi has been involved with the ASX Schools Sharemarket Games for over 18 years. We believe the Games are an excellent opportunity for teenagers to gain first hand understanding of how the stockmarket operates.

Students are given a hypothetical $50,000 to trade over a ten-week period. They buy and sell shares "online" in 100 ASX listed companies placing orders at any time. The orders are then executed when the real sharemarket is open. "At market" orders are filled using the next available price in the real sharemarket, and they can also place "at limit" orders. In addition they can graph the share price of all stocks in the Game; set up a watch list of stocks, just like the professionals; graph their portfolio's performance against the Game leaders and compare their portfolio to the All Ordinaries Index.

Citi Financial Health Day

The Citi Financial Health Day is a benefit that provides all Citi employees with up to eight hours of leave to attend to their personal finances or to improve their financial knowledge and skills.

Aimed at building a 'financially fit' workforce, employees can use the time to visit finance professionals, attend seminars and generally engage in activities that assist them to proactively manage their finances.