May 31, 2007
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Treasury Marks 5th Anniversary of Financial Education Office

Washington, DC - Treasury Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions David G. Nason congratulated Treasury's Office of Financial Education as the organization celebrated its fifth anniversary this month.

"Treasury's Office of Financial Education has been instrumental in helping empower more Americans to gain control of their finances," said Acting Assistant Secretary Nason. "In just five years, this office has become a world leader in financial education, demonstrating how the federal government can effectively bridge public and private sector leaders and American communities to improve financial literacy."

Treasury established the office in May 2002 to promote access to the financial education tools that can help all Americans make better informed decisions in all areas of personal financial management. Since the inception of the office, Treasury officials traveled to 44 states and held 307 financial education sessions with nearly 25,000 in attendance. The office assisted more than one thousand financial education providers and public citizens through its Technical Assistance Center and promoted exemplary financial education efforts by creating the Sherman Award for excellence in financial education, recognizing 17 local organizations across the country.

The office also coordinates the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, a group of 20 federal agencies chaired by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. Some of the commission's major accomplishments include:

Launched MyMoney.gov and 1-888-MyMoney

This Federal government website and toll-free hotline serves as a coordinated point of entry to Federal financial education materials, programs, grants and other information. Since October 2004 when established, MyMoney.gov has been visited approximately 1,800,000 times. Both resources are available in English and Spanish and serve as a one-stop shop for information about homeownership, credit management, retirement savings and many other topics.

The 20-agency Commission released Taking Ownership of the Future: The National Strategy for Financial Literacy in April 2006. The national strategy, covering 13 areas of financial education and containing 32 calls to action, is a comprehensive blueprint for improving financial literacy in America through public-private partnerships. The national strategy can be found at MyMoney.gov

The Office released its first financial education television commercial last month, which can be viewed at www.mymoney.gov. Treasury and the Ad Council also are pursuing a broader English and Spanish multimedia public service announcement campaign aimed at increasing credit literacy with a projected launch this year.