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The BizWorld program is being featured on the reality TV show, Startup U! Watch young entrepreneurs follow their dreams at they go through Draper University’s 7-week program. Tune in on ABC family on Thursdays at 5pm PST to be inspired by their innovative business pursuits! Check out what they exactly do in the trailer below:

“I love the work that you are doing at BizWorld.org. Teaching kids about entrepreneurship and financial education from an early age is critical to their well being and success.” Jason Young, CEO, MindBlown Labs Creates captivating mobile app/games that teach teens and young adults about personal finance. Age: 33 Favorite Food: Ramona’s red chile burrito Favorite Video Game: While I love Thrive ‘n’ Shine, my favorite video game of all time is Final Fantasy II Favorite Toy: Legos Favorite Teacher: Ms. Banks (Spanish) 1) When did you first know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur? When I was 9, I had an opportunity to shadow an entrepreneur, a local plumber, two days/week. I worked with him over the summer and quickly came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to become a plumber when I grew up. That said, working with him ignited my passion to run my own business and be my own boss. He paid me $10 a day to work with him, and I saved my money that I earned to buy candy called “Sour Power”. The candy was very popular but not readily available in stores. You could only get it from the ice-cream truck once a day. I found one location that would sell it to me in bulk and used my savings from the summer to purchase large quantities of it. I then marked it up by about 50% and resold it for a profit at school. My school eventually shut me down. By then, however, it was too late. I was hooked on this thing called entrepreneurship. 2) Tell us about MindBlown Labs. What do you enjoy about running your own business? Mindblown labs was founded in 2012 in Oakland, CA. My company creates mobile games to teach kids to make critical life and financial decisions. Our first game is called “Thrive and Shine”. When we started the company, my co-founder and I did not have an office space for my 3 employees. We worked remotely to keep costs down. At the end of 2012, we were offered free office space by Community Bank of the Bay. In 2015, Mindblown Labs has grown to 12 people! Every day, I have the opportunity to work on something that I am passionate about. I want all kids to understand money, and how to make critical decisions that will affect them as adults. I also have a lot of flexibility in how much I choose to work. Running a business requires dedication and discipline. I work much more than a full 9-5pm day, but I choose the hours that I work. I also work with highly competent people. 3) What advice would you give kids about running your own business and the skills that you have learned? a) Running your own business takes a lot of hard work and discipline.b) It’s important to surround yourself with dedicated individuals and ask for help when you need it whether it’s from your parents, investors and/or friends.c) It’s not always the smartest person who is successful. It’s the person who has the endurance to figure things out, make mistakes, and then keep on moving forward. I have started five different businesses and each time I have learned something new from my failures.d) It’s important to respect people’s differences. Everyone on your team has different strengths and gifts.

by Sherry Rahmani, Program Outreach Coordinator Financial fitness was the hot topic of the day at the 2015 CalCPA Financial Literacy Summit, co-hosted alongside California Jump$tart Coalition. I had the pleasure of meeting educators and financial literacy advocates and introduced them to some of the resources offered by BizWorld.org for financial literacy improvement. It was an honor to contribute to such an important cause and have the opportunity to collaborate on ways to tackle the issue of financial literacy. There were great keynotes regarding the success, challenges and progress for financial literacy in public education and sessions on managing student loan debt that I found extremely informative and useful. Having volunteered as a college prep tutor for several years, I often met high school and college students who knew so little about important and complex financial issues that they were about to face. I always stressed the importance of building good financial habits and reminded them that earning a degree wouldn’t guarantee a career and/or a good income. While teaching BizWorld at one of our local schools a month ago, I watched as the students learned how to be financially responsible. VPs of finance accompanied their team members as they shopped for materials and advised them on how much to spend. I remember seeing one VP of finance who refused to approve several withdrawal requests. After reviewing their numbers, she felt that they couldn’t take the risk of having any more expenses, and she didn’t want the company to end up with a loss. It was great to see young elementary students understanding important concepts such as paying rent and salaries and making smart spending decisions. I can say with confidence that these students are already better equipped to make sound financial decisions in the future. It’s never too early to teach financial literacy and prepare kids for success. Many of us learned what we know about money management from our parents and caregivers. Nowadays, we’re turning to teachers to prepare our children for their financial future. As our wonderful educators around the nation equip tomorrow’s leaders with the knowledge to make smarter money decisions, we can support them by continuing our own financial education and building positive learning experiences for our children.

We want to give a special thank you to our friends at Franklin Templeton for hosting our summer Teacher Training at their beautiful campus in San Mateo, CA. Our experienced BizWorld.org program staff provided comprehensive, hands-on training to more than 30 educators on how to facilitate our BizWorld and BizMovie programs in their classrooms. Participating educators were also provided with a complete program and all materials necessary to implement our programs in their classrooms serving up to 33 children for each program. This results in up to 1000 students being impacted during the 2015-2016 academic year. We were joined by many new teachers excited to learn about our programs as well as several veteran BizWorld.org educators, eager to share their classroom experiences and practical tips after many years of teaching our programs. All the teachers expressed their appreciation for for the comfortable learning environment that Franklin Templeton provided. Thank you again for being such wonderful hosts!

by Thais Rezende, CEO We are proud to announce our new partnership with Umpqua Bank. Umpqua’s commitment to innovation, and serving and supporting the local community makes them a perfect partner for BizWorld.org. Thanks to their generosity and employee volunteer support, 350 young students in San Francisco’s North Bay will learn real-world skills that will inspire them to become the architects of their futures and have confidence to transform their communities! Welcome to our BizWorld.org family!

by Thais Rezende, CEO We are happy to announce U.S. Bank’s investment in BizWorld.org to support expansion and reach of our entrepreneurship education programs in the western United States. Thanks to the Bank’s generous support, 650 elementary and middle school children in under-served communities will be empowered to become 21st century thinkers by awakening their entrepreneurial spirit. We are also proud to partner with U.S. Bank as the sponsor and host for our first ever BizWorld Academy in Southern California. Bank employees will join us to mentor students and share valuable career insights during this engaging field trip. We are thrilled to work with you!”

BizWorld.org’s Adventures at ISTE! Janet and Sherry had the honor of meeting so many innovative and enthusiastic teachers at the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE) conference in Philadelphia, PA this summer. We wanted to share some of the highlights! In addition to all the high tech gadgets at the exhibit hall, we had so much fun snapping photos with educators on our BizMovie red carpet. We had an amazing week at ISTE 2015 meeting and collaborating with thousands of extraordinary educators who came by our booth to learn more about BizWorld.org. It was so great to meet some of our long-time BizWorld teachers as well as others newly interested in bringing our programs to their classrooms in the future. Thank you to our partners at ISTE for the opportunity to participate in such an exciting community of thought leaders in Education. And a big shout-out to Dunkin Donuts for keeping the dynamic duo running!

Check out our KTVU Channel 2 spotlight at Ford Elementary here. “BizWorld.org came into my classroom in April, and I am so glad they did! Bizworld.org helped my students understand the complexities required to start, operate and finance their own movie production company. My students were able to receive real-world, financial literacy skills in an incredibly engaging, creative and collaborative way. My students were excited that they were able to be creative and create their own animated short films. They also created advertisements and sold movie tickets to their films. The overall experience with BizWorld.org and the BizMovie curriculum which they used during their visit is a resource that all students should experience.” – Mr. Francisco Ortiz, 6th Grade Teacher “My students really benefited from your program and were very happy when I suggested that we do another movie on a book that we are currently reading in class. I found that the presentations were very well done and many of my students who I was worried might be a problem during the class actually were very involved. Having them re-write a book that has been published has made them really delve into the book to understand what the author was trying to tell them. I hope that I will be able to put all of the different chapters together for one movie…I want to commend your staff on a fantastic three days in our classrooms giving our students a purpose to be there. I think that all of our students learned from the experience, and I actually learned some parts of the Business World that I did not know before.” – Mr. Richard Perrault, 6th Grade Teacher

1) Q: Do you believe that entrepreneurship and financial education are important skills to learn at a young age? If so, why? Absolutely. Instilling any values in children at a young age is incredibly important as it molds how their minds develop. These values guide them on how they think, analyze, make decisions and act. As adults who influence these young minds, we must choose our actions and counsel around our children wisely. As we relate that to financial education and entrepreneurship, we are really looking at two questions. Financial Education: Our economy driven in part by consumer spending. Children seeing advertisements tell them and adults to buy the “next big thing we must have” while the last big thing we just needed sits unused, or worse, in the trash. Teaching young children the value of money and “stuff” is critical to developing a healthy relationship with money as they grow. One of U.S. Bank’s recent magazine articles, “Jump Start Your Teens Financial Future,” notes that setting and achieving goals can be a powerful way to teach young people about wealth management. Some sad news, according to a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation’s 2013 study, “Financial Capability in the United States,” measures of financial capability are markedly low among 18- to 34-year-old Americans. These young adults are more likely than adults over 35-years old to declare bankruptcy, withdraw money prematurely from retirement accounts, overdraw checking accounts, and use costly credit card borrowing methods and struggle with the management of short-term unexpected expenses. Understanding and respecting the relationship with money, along with goal setting is a good foundation to healthy money management. As most of adults know, this is a solid lesson to learn and the earlier the better. On entrepreneurship. Understanding the power of entrepreneurship goes beyond monetary benefits. It teaches a most important lesson: if you really want something and work hard for it, you can achieve it. Even if the actual “it” outcome may not look exactly as one imagined. “It” may be a lot better! Entrepreneurship teaches us to dream. It provides hands-on experience in risk/reward, hard work, luck and failure and the gift of constant learning. Entrepreneurship is empowerment and how important is that lesson? How many of us adults wish we would have learned about entrepreneurship when we were young? 2) Q: With more and more states incorporating financial literacy into their required standards, we are learning the importance of teaching students the foundations of financial responsibility at a young age. What are some activities you would recommend for our teachers to use in their classrooms? Parents and teachers can use the same strategies. TALK to kids about your own goals and spend time together as a family and as a classroom making choices. Schools and teachers can partner with organizations such as BizWorld.org and U.S. Bank on engaging students with entrepreneurship education programs. The key for kids is to make it tangible and fun. BizWorld.org is an organization of students, parents, educators, and volunteers dedicated to improving education in the world. BizWorld.org’s project-based entrepreneurial programs provide students and teachers with authentic learning experiences in which students actively participate in investigating real-world concepts like problem-solving, managing finances, working in teams and being leaders. The programs equip students with the skills to explore career possibilities or create their own employment opportunities. At U.S. Bank, we believe that financial education is essential in building healthy financial habits for life. During the 2013-2014 school year, more than 4,000 high school students participated in the U.S. Bank Financial Genius Scholars Program, of which 2,200 were certified by completing all of the available learning modules. Since the program’s inception in 2010, more than 10,000 students have participated. In fact, U.S. Bank is celebrating Financial Literacy Month this April through its Financial Genius Scholars Program. Throughout the month, U.S. Bank volunteers are connecting with high school students in eight cities: Sacramento, San Diego, Duluth, San Francisco, Rapid City, Phoenix, Seattle and St. Paul. These volunteers are engaging students in a variety of activities including classroom discussions, online games and financial literacy lessons. Students are also taking part in Q and A sessions with our bankers, who provide insights into careers in the financial services industry and address personal finance questions. In addition, students can take online courses through the U.S. Bank Financial Genius Scholars Program, which provides real-world scenarios and knowledge to sharpen personal finance skills. Topics Include: Savings & Budgeting, Understanding a Credit Score and its Implications, Understanding Credit Cards & Managing Debt, How a Bank Works & Federal Reserve overview, Taxes and Insurance, Renting vs. Owning, Managing Loans to Finance a Higher Education, Investing Overview and Consumer Fraud and Protection.Just a few examples of programs teachers and parents can take advantage of! 3) Q: What can parents do to encourage good savings and investing habits in their children? 1. Lead by example and talk to them.I used to hate it when my parents told me “we can’t afford it…” I heard that a lot in my life and I can tell you I made some bad money decisions early in life as a result of wanting to get away from this mentality! Parents should explain to, and not just tell, children why you and/or they just might not really need that “next big thing we must have”. Show children the value (and freedom!) of life without excess stuff. Explain the work: stuff ratio and what is really important. It’s generally not “stuff”. 2. Parents should set “S” Goals as it relates to money: Share, Save, Spend.Parents should set appropriate goals for children on spending, giving money through philanthropy, and saving money. Parents should begin having conversations about money — around goals, needs and wants, and how money works — as soon as their kids are old enough to understand the concept. Honestly, it’s never too early, nor late to start. 4) Q: What are your top 5 suggestions on savings and investment resources that we could share

You work hard for your money and, especially in these tough economic times, every dollar counts. Make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck, and staying within your budget at the same time, by following these tips: Don’t buy anything on the spur-of-the-moment – Spur-of-the-moment buying results in unnecessary spending. Resist the initial urge, and see if you feel as strongly about it 24 hours later. Don’t make spending something you do in your spare time – Don’t shop in stores, malls, and online sites just to pass the time. Find free activities to do, and spend your time taking care of the things you already have. Look for less expensive ways to get the things you want – Rent a DVD instead of going to the theater. Shop the clearance section instead of the new arrivals. Also, try generics. Many are just as good as the name brand at a fraction of the cost. Sign up for e-mail coupons and loyalty cards from stores that you frequent – Often, you don’t even need to carry them around in your purse or wallet. Just take your phone with you, and give the sales associate the code when you’re checking out. Remember these three words: Everything is negotiable – Your customer dollars are very precious, to you and to sellers, so always make sure you’re getting the absolute best deal possible. A smart consumer knows how to get the best price by doing their homework, shopping around, and asking for a discount. Never be ashamed to bargain. Clare LevisonCPA and author of Frugal Isn’t Cheap: Spend Less, Save More, and Live Better Clare K. Levison is a certified public accountant and author of Frugal Isn’t Cheap: Spend Less, Save More, and Live Better. Clare has appeared on major radio and television networks across the country discussing personal finance and has also been a contributor to publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and U.S. News & World Report. Clare is a national financial literacy spokesperson for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and serves as a member of their National Financial Literacy Commission. She has served as a member of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA) Board of Directors and was named one of the 2010 Top Five CPAs Under Thirty-Five by the VSCPA. www.clarelevison.com