We’re Invested in Financial Empowerment

Slow music plays as a woman walks down a locker-lined school hallway, swinging a J. L. Long Middle School lanyard with keys and an ID badge. She unlocks a door.

Tamara Walker [off-screen]: I knew from a child that I was gonna be a teacher.

A close-up of Tamara transitions to a view of the front of the school, with the school’s name carved in stone over the entrance. As Tamara speaks off-screen, she is shown hugging a smiling young boy and then teaching in a classroom.

I teach at J.L. Long Middle School in Dallas, Texas. The kids call me Miss Walker. Although I teach financial literacy, a lot of my kids come from families that have no…

Onscreen text: Tamara Walker, J.L. Long Middle School Teacher

Tamara [in close-up shot]: …not even enough money to buy the school supplies.

As Tamara speaks off-screen, she is shown organizing papers at her desk and flipping through a three-ring binder of teaching assignments.

And so throughout the years, I've always tried to supply everything for my students.

Close-up shots of Tamara are interspersed with shots of her and her students in the classroom and her fist-bumping students in the school hallway.

And then when DonorsChoose came around, I was like, "Miracle." I never want my kids to have to go buy anything. A spiral, a pencil. If a pencil is going to keep them from being successful throughout the day, no need.

Onscreen text: Emily Harwood, Charles Schwab Financial Consultant

Music becomes up-tempo and jubilant.

Emily Harwood:                My name is Emily Harwood. I am a Financial Consultant at Charles Schwab in Dallas, Texas.

Close-up shots of Emily are interspersed with a view of the front of the middle school and then shots of Tamara interacting with two young girls in the classroom, high-fiving a young boy, straightening the classroom by dropping markers into a bin, and then conversing with Emily.

This is my neighborhood school. My own son is going to be a J. L. Long Buc in two years. Miss Walker is out there every day teaching financial literacy to these kids.

That's what we do at Charles Schwab. We want folks to be financially savvy. So when we learned about Miss Walker and how dedicated she is and that she's turned to DonorsChoose to fund the projects in her class—which is a great organization; it allows schools and teachers to crowdfund projects that may otherwise not have the resources to fund—

Emily and Tamara are in the classroom talking. Smiling, Emily reaches into an inner pocket of her blazer and pulls out a card, which she hands to Tamara.

We decided we wanted to do something significant, and we want to make a big impact in her class.

She has no idea what's coming.

Tamara takes the card Emily is handing her. As she opens it, joy and shock register on her face and she gasps and begins to cry.

Emily [off-screen] What's in there?

Tamara [crying]: $10,000.

Emily [laughing and hugging Tamara]: We're gonna help you do a lot of good stuff, 'cause you do a lot of good stuff for these kids here.

A school door opens and Tamara enters a large room where dozens of students are cheering and shouting and a drum section from a marching band is playing. Then Tamara and some students are holding a poster-sized check for $10,000 from Charles Schwab.

Emily [off-screen] We have another little surprise for you. We're gonna take you and your whole class tonight to the Rangers.

Tamara raises her arms exultantly, and she and the students cheer.

Outside of the ballpark, Tamara is wearing a Texas Rangers shirt and hugs Rangers Captain, the Texas Rangers mascot. Then Tamara is walking down the sidewalk with her students. She is shown with a series of different students inside the stadium, enjoying the baseball experience.

Tamara [off-screen]: I feel elated. I can't believe that someone's willing to help us that much. My kids are gonna be the real winners.

Up-tempo music ends. Brand music plays.

Onscreen text: Charles Schwab is proud to match your donation supporting financial education in the classroom.

Visit DonorsChoose.org to help us make a difference.

Charles Schwab

Own your tomorrow®

Light background music plays. A group of teens walks into a school auditorium. A staff member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America holds the door open for them.

Staff: You guys are about to get your occupations right now. Let's do it. Come on in.

A group of adults in Charles Schwab T-shirts sits in a classroom, listening intently to Johnny[FK1] , the financial literacy program director, introducing the activity they’re about to help with.

Johnny [off-screen]: You have an opportunity to make an impact in the lives of young people with regard to how they spend their money. They'll have to choose their housing arrangement, entertainment, investments.

Johnny stands in front of the group, reading from a paper.

Johnny: For our young people, this is gonna be an opportunity for them to get a dose of reality.

Onscreen text:

Money Matters: Make It Count.

The Reality Store.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Charles Schwab Foundation.

Two girls from the group of teens stand in front of a table with clipboards in hand and write down the information Kim[FK2] , one of the volunteers, gives them.  

Kim [off-screen]: Okay, your annual salary is $76,500.

The auditorium is buzzing with conversation from several groups seated and standing at tables, talking.

Natasha [off-screen]: The Reality Store experience is a piece of the Money Matters program.

Natasha is wearing a staff shirt, with the busy auditorium behind her.

Onscreen text:

Natasha Alani

Director City Wide Teen Services

Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco

Natasha: The Schwab Money Matters financial literacy program that we do here at Boys & Girls Clubs focuses on a lot of different things. It covers everything from savings to paying for college.

Teens sit or stand at tables with the adult volunteers, talking and filling out their worksheets.

Natasha [off-screen]: And what we're doing today is an actual simulation of life as a 28-year-old. What are you going to do to make sure that you're financially healthy?

Teens are interviewed individually about their experience, the auditorium bustling in the background.

Onscreen text:

Janice

Club Member

Janice: I thought cable was very surprising at one of the stations, because I didn't know cable cost that much. I'm a receptionist, my salary was $1,870 dollars. I wanna learn how to budget and stay inside my budget a lot instead of going outside of it and just spending money.

Onscreen text:

Asantay

Club Member

Asantay: My career was a geneticist—I actually had four children. The choices I made, I kind of messed up on some, and then I had to go back and redo them.

Earlier, Asantay speaks with one of the volunteers, Karen, at her table.

Karen: I think you probably can handle the three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths. Maybe some of your kids can share rooms.

Asantay: Yeah.

Asantay [off-screen]: The house was expensive. Clothes and food was kind of hard. It really helped me because to see what I actually need and don't need, how to manage my money.

The two girls are chatting with their volunteer, Kim, and filling out their worksheets.

Kim: And for your health insurance, a family plan, you're looking at $250 a month.

Kim is interviewed in the empty auditorium after the event.

Onscreen text:

Kim Law

Schwab Volunteer

Kim: They really were very thoughtful about their budgeting, what it meant, and it was really great to see that experience through their eyes. This is an opportunity to bring financial literacy at a young age, an important age, and carry with them the rest of their lives.

Onscreen text:

Johnny DiBartolo

Financial Literary Program Director

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Johnny: Kids are learning the importance of careers and how they relate to their salary, the importance of personal responsibility with regard to family, we learned about budgeting, saving, the importance of investing, all in the safety of the club.

Onscreen text:

Elmer

Club Member

Elmer: What I learned was that even though you do have a good job and you think it is good, you still have to spend your money wisely and think about your kids. I basically bought a lot of luxurious things, but I didn't have enough to afford the childcare.

Onscreen text:

Rich Kahan

Schwab Volunteer

Rich: So you could see the wheels spinning. The fact that this isn't easy, I need to consider what my whole budget is, what I really do want or what I really do need, and then somehow put it all together and make it work. It'll really be a strong and valuable tool for the next generation.

Onscreen text:

Money Matters: Make It Count

The Reality Store

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Charles Schwab Foundation

To learn more visit moneymattersmakeitcount.com

The Charles Schwab Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation funded by The Charles Schwab Corporation and classified by the IRS as a charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation is neither a part of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC) nor its parent company, The Charles Schwab Corporation.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America is unaffiliated with Charles Schwab Foundation, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., and The Charles Schwab Corporation. (0315-2467)

Several still photos of colorful outdoor murals and a wall with yellow post-it notes covered in math equations are shown in rapid succession to the sound of a camera shutter clicking. Then the scene shifts to an aerial panorama of a city on a sunny day with water and mountains in the distance.

A series of still photos of Claudia Walker standing in her school’s hallway is clicked through. One wall of the hallway has yellow paper covered with students’ math problems pinned to it. Claudia smiles at the camera. She is wearing a casual, stylish outfit of a denim shirt and black pants.

Claudia Walker [off-screen]: Right after I graduated from college, I worked for a major investment bank,

Claudia walks down a street with another woman. Then an aerial view of her school, which has colorful murals on two large outside walls, is shown on a clear, sunny day.

Claudia [off-screen]: and then I started a business, and then I got into teaching.

Claudia [onscreen]: I was looking for a career change, and teaching was the thing that I found.

Piano music plays. An aerial view of a neighborhood with cars driving down the street is shown.

Onscreen text: Claudia Walker is one of 732 teachers in the U.S. introducing middle and high school students to the world of investing through the SIFMA Foundation’s Capitol Hill Challenge.

Several still photos of Claudia writing on the white board in her classroom are flipped through. Students enter the room from outside. Claudia stands in front of her class with her computer screen projected on the wall. Close-ups of several students, listening attentively, are shown.

Claudia [off-screen]: As teachers we come to the work because we want to prepare kids for the future. And financial literacy—making sure that students understand about financial literacy and the different forms of investment—is absolutely preparing them for their future. It's probably one of the most important things that we could do.

Her students collaborate on an activity as Claudia checks in individually with each group.

Claudia [off-screen]: You know, we're talking about money, and most kids are motivated by money—whether it's, you know, chores or getting a scholarship, they're motivated by the payoff. And so my conversation with the students is "How do you manage that? Regardless of how much money you make, how do you manage your finances?"

Students walk up to the school building. They are wearing headphones and backpacks, and couple of students are dribbling basketballs. Inside the classroom, Claudia monitors her students while they work on an activity, and walks over to a student who raises his hand.

Claudia [off-screen]: For me, it's really important, particularly with the population of students that I teach. They're predominantly Latino and African American, and we know that there's a gap in terms of their access to financial literacy classes. And so for me it's really important that when my students leave my classroom, they have the tools, they have the knowledge to go into the world, and really be able to use what they have in order to create wealth for their families and their community, and the Capitol Hill Challenge is a great place to start.

The exterior of the school building, which has “Havenscourt Campus” on the wall above the entrance, is shown from the street, then the camera zooms out to an aerial view of the school before zooming back in to the parking lot, which has a colorful mural painted on one wall. Claudia walks past several portable classroom buildings, her purse slung over her shoulder. The scene shifts to an interior hallway, where Claudia stops to chat with a student in front of a bank of lockers. Claudia is also shown walking outside with another woman, perhaps another teacher, and working at her desk on her laptop. Then several still photos of students in a classroom are clicked through. Then the camera clicks through several images of a smiling Claudia, standing in the same hallway where she was first shown.

Background music begins to play and continues through the end of video.

Claudia [off-screen]: Success as a teacher is a student coming to me and saying that, you know, "There was something that you said or that you did in the classroom that really shifted the way that I saw things, or that I saw myself." You know, content is important, but I want students to understand that they matter, that there's a place for them in this world, and really figuring out what that place is.

Onscreen text: Charles Schwab Foundation has committed $1 million over three years to advance financial capability and civics through the SIFMA Foundation’s Capitol Hill Challenge.

Charles Schwab Foundation

Disclosure

Charles Schwab Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, private foundation funded by The Charles Schwab Corporation. It is not part of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. or its parent company, The Charles Schwab Corporation. The Foundation and The Charles Schwab Corporation and its affiliates are unaffiliated with SIFMA Foundation.

©2018 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (0618-8EDR)