On April 26 and June 7, employees from Fidelity Investments attended our Community Evenings to teach valuable financial literacy lessons to our inquisitive guests.

Community Evenings are exclusive events held at LSC for at-risk students and their families from New Jersey’s 31 Abbott districts. They provide no-cost access to exhibitions, IMAX films, 3D shows, live demonstrations, and hands-on activities.

These two Community Evenings were themed around financial literacy – especially appropriate because April was Financial Literacy Month!

Via generous funding support from Fidelity Investments, over 1,400 students and parents/guardians from Jersey City, Harrison, Hoboken, Union City, Paterson, Plainfield, Irvington, and Passaic participated in fun activities with real-life settings that taught the significance of financial concepts.

Helpful and upbeat Fidelity volunteers taught students, alongside parents and teachers, how to responsibly handle finances, to consider the value of something before buying it, how to save and still have fun, and more. Talking to the children about money and exercising their financial knowledge sets them on a path to become financially responsible. Adults, too, learned some techniques to help them make more informed decisions about their financial futures.

There were multiple activities presented at these financial-themed Community Evenings, including games where students analyzed features on bills and coins, tested their knowledge of money from other countries, and used money blocks to build towers in ascending order.

Additionally, the participants received a special passport that was stamped each time a financial activity was completed. Once fulfilled, participants used the passport to redeem a swag bag, courtesy of Fidelity Investments. We think these bright groups of students really enjoy a challenge, since there were no more swag bags to give out by the end of the event!

Liberty Science Center is thankful for the commitment and support of Fidelity Investments and its many kind volunteers that helped to enhance the experience of every guest in attendance.

Learn more about Community Evenings at LSC.