Omaha, NE – May 17, 2016 – Today in Omaha, Visa Inc. was joined by two-time Huskers offensive MVP, Roy Helu and Nebraska Lt. Governor Mike Foley for the statewide launch of Financial Football, a free educational video game and classroom curriculum developed by Visa in an effort to help high school students sharpen their fiscal skills.
"At Visa we believe that the best path toward financial literacy for both students and consumers is the partnership between the public and private sector. We are most effective spreading the message of sound money management when we work together," said Hugh Norton, Head of U.S. Financial Education, Visa Inc. "We are proud to join with Lt. Governor Foley and the NFL with the shared goal of improving the financial literacy of all Nebraskans."
Lt. Governor Foley kicked off this financial literacy campaign at Omaha North High School with help from Visa and Roy Helu. The Governor's office is launching the program – including an online component for all Nebraskans – to schools statewide. The game, including teaching resources, will be provided to every public middle school, high school and throughout various community organizations in Nebraska. Visa is working with the Lieutenant Governor's office to share the financial information and skills with students.
"Financial literacy is an important issue to me," said Lt. Governor Foley. "Financial Football is an exciting and successful way to get students interested in personal finance. It will help them develop a sound money management playbook. We want all Nebraskans to know that the program is easy to access and available at no cost to them."
At Omaha North High School, Lt. Governor Foley and Roy Helu, rolled up their sleeves and faced off with teams of students in a hard-fought, high energy game of Financial Football. Helu, a former Husker star, and running back for the Oakland Raiders, shared his personal experiences on the importance of money management with students.
"On or off the field, practice and teamwork are the key to success. It's important to learn how to save and budget early in life and stick with practicing them," said Helu. "Government and companies working together to support parents, teachers and mentors within the community can give kids a strong background in financial literacy."
In its tenth season, Financial Football is the centerpiece of Visa's nationwide education initiative, with the NFL and NFL PLAYERS, designed to help students tackle their financial futures. Financial Football is available online at www.practicalmoneyskills.com/financialfootball/ and puts students' fiscal knowledge to the test in a simulation game environment by combining the structure and rules of the NFL with financial education questions of varying difficulty. Visa has also released the game as a free iPhone app on iTunes, along with an optimized HD iPad version.
The game is accompanied by a classroom curriculum and has been distributed to high schools and middle schools in 48 states including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the District of Columbia since Financial Football's launch in 2006.
Financial Football is part of Practical Money Skills for Life (www.practicalmoneyskills.com) a free, award-winning, teacher-tested and teacher-approved financial education program that reaches millions of people around the world each year. The program was launched in 1995 and is now available in 16 languages across 42 countries. At Practical Money Skills for Life, educators, parents and students can access free educational resources including personal finance articles, games, lesson plans and more. Visa also runs What's My Score (www.whatsmyscore.org), a leading higher education consumer awareness program.
About Visa
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks – VisaNet – that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa/our_business.html, visacorporate.tumblr.com and @VisaNews.
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