Biz Kid$ is a national financial education initiative based on an Emmy Award-winning public television series about kids, money, and business. The series includes 65 episodes and reaches one million viewers per episode.
Using a clever blend of entertainment and education, each Biz Kid$ episode shows kids how to make and manage money by introducing concepts of financial literacy and entrepreneurship. To keep young viewers engaged, the series includes a fast-paced mix of direct education delivered by young actors, sketch comedies, animation, and stories featuring real life young entrepreneurs. The show is complemented by a resource-rich website, free lesson plans mapped to state and national standards, outreach activities, a Facebook site, and a book for teens and tweens titled “How To Turn $100 Into $1 Million.”
Biz Kid$’ creative team is best known for creating and producing ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’. Bill Nye was a popular science series produced in the 1990’s, and is still being used to teach science in classrooms across the US today. The series received 26 National Emmy Awards (including two for Outstanding Children’s Television Series), and the National Science Board Public Service Award, among others. Over the past decade, the producers have also created more than 475 episodes for PBS in the areas of ‘How-to’ and ‘Natural History’. The team has worked on projects for NBC, CBS, ABC, The Food Network, General Electric, General Motors, Microsoft, National Geographic, and President Bill Clinton.
Biz Kid$ has received the status of “recommended educational resource” by the State Boards of Education in Virginia, Florida, California, Illinois, Iowa, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Texas. The series is in the process of achieving that recognition in New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan, Ohio, and Massachusetts. It also received the Parent’s Choice Gold Award in 2012.
Biz Kid$ received the Council of Economic and Financial Education commendation for “Outstanding Contributions to Financial Education” in May 2011. The series also received a silver 2011 Parent’s Choice Award in the category of Children’s Television Programming.
Biz Kid$ has aired on over 338 public television stations, reaching 98% of the country, including all of the top 75 markets. The series is available to over 271 million people, and attracts more than one million viewers per episode. Biz Kid$ has aired over 146,450 times and been watched by almost 36,000,000 people. The series has delivered 65 episodes and an hour-long documentary on social changemakers to public television stations.
Outreach sources conclude that over 9 million people were exposed to the Biz Kid$ initiative, including 1 million students and teachers in 2009, and has continued to build that impact into schools throughout 2010 – 2015.
Biz Kid$ has been adopted by Ernst & Young to use in their education outreach programs, “EY Connect Day” for middle schools, and “College Map” for high schools.
Biz Kid$ Episode 401, “A Word Without Taxes,” is being used by the Internal Revenue Service as part of their educational outreach program, and is also being used by the National Disability Institute for their educational outreach.
Biz Kid$ is the basis for a Financial Literacy Camp launched by Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union in the summer of 2009. 9,000 young people from Tampa, Florida participated in the first year of the six-week camp, which has continued to grow in size and impact every summer since.
Biz Kid$
Website
Images
