The YMCA and Goalsetter Team Up to Help Every Child Achieve Financial Literacy

8 February 2021
Young hands holding a piggy bank

The Y joins the "Drafted" Initiative launched by Goalsetter and the NBA Players Association during Black History Month to help every kid in America achieve financial independence.

This program will soon be incorporated at the YMCA of South Hampton Roads! Stay tuned for more details, and see the full press release below from the YMCA of the USA.

CHICAGO, Feb. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Announced today, YMCA of the USA(Y-USA) will team up with Goalsetter and its "Drafted" initiative to help introduce the free, family saving, financial literacy and smart spending app to families with a goal of signing up one million Black kids to save money. The "Drafted" campaign will launch just in time for Black History Month and will feature celebrities, influencers, community organizations and corporations who each use a day in February to "draft" kids to get savings accounts.

In response to the 2020 forecast that the median wealth of Black Americans will fall to zero by 2053, Goalsetter launched a movement to help 1 million Black kids open savings accounts. This partnership with the YMCA is part of Goalsetter's aim to reach every kid in America and dovetails with the Y's deep commitment to become an anti-racist, multicultural organization committed to advancing equity for all. As a key partner in the Drafted initiative, the Y will encourage Y families to participate in the project by downloading the app and drafting a kid they love into the league of financial literacy.

Families who sign up their kids for Goalsetter will be providing their children a leading-edge banking and financial education app, which includes access to: 

  • An FDIC-insured savings account

  • Weekly fun financial literacy quizzes, powered by memes and gifs

  • A Cashola Card, the Goalsetter tween and teen debit card backed by Mastercard

  • Unique features like "Learn to Earn" that lets kids earn money for every financial literacy quiz question they get right, and "Learn Before you Burn," which automatically freezes kids' debit cards if they don't take their quiz for the week.

  • Gifting functionality, which enables families to gift money towards kids' goals via the Goalsetter app

"The Y is committed to helping all young people reach their full potential, and financial literacy is an important building block," said Kevin Washington, president and CEO of YMCA of the USA. "We believe introducing Goalsetter to the 9 million kids the Y serves each year, and their families can have a significant impact on financial literacy in our country. Goalsetter can help Y families not only save money, but also make educated spending decisions."

The "Drafted" Initiative

All YMCA families will also be given a unique sign-up link for the Goalsetter app for easy access. By using that unique sign-up link, each time a family downloads the app and funds a savings account, Goalsetter will make a $1 donation to their local Y to support the Y's community impact work. As part of the "Drafted" campaign, each Y will ask "Who's Got Next?" and challenge Ys across the country to draft kids in their local communities as well.

"We are excited to collaborate with the Y to give the gift of financial literacy to every kid the Y serves," said Goalsetter founder & CEO Tanya Van Court. "Our mission is to empower the youth of today to fulfill their dreams of tomorrow. Through the Y and its deep community roots, we know that thousands of additional families will discover how the Goalsetter app can not only give kids their first savings accounts and debit cards, but can teach them critical financial concepts with engaging game-based financial quizzes. The best gift we can give our kids is the opportunity to learn money before they begin to burn money."

The "Drafted" initiative is a joint project by the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and Goalsetter, focused on having adults and mentors "draft" the kids they love into the league of financial literacy.

This Goalsetter program is committed to helping today's youth save money and spend smartly, and is based on research from leading educators that shows children with savings accounts (regardless of amount invested) are six times more likely to go to college and four times more likely to own stocks as young adults.

Goalsetter engages kids from all backgrounds in understanding how to build wealth and learn financial language by offering savings accounts coupled with quiz-based games that are developed using memes and GIFs from hip-hop artists, social media influencers and pop culture personalities.