by Brenda Campbell, President and CEO, Make A Difference – Wisconsin
After close to a decade in financial education in Wisconsin, you learn to evolve and refresh your mission. This year, we’ve got a few big elements of that ongoing evolution to share with you. Part of that evolution is live today, with the launch of our revamped website.
While the new “look and feel” of our online home is a great source of pride internally, we’re hoping it does much more as a means to share our mission, growth and impact stories from more than nine years in financial education. 
For instance, click on the new section entitled “Our Impact” – my favorite page – and you get nice presentations of the figures behind our program’s continual expansion (including the one to your left, showing how our student engagement leads directly to smarter money practices).
You also get stories from two of our wonderful students, D’Amonte and Jeremy. To me, changes in behavior provide the best indicator on whether or not what you’re doing actually works. Reflecting on our in-depth and exclusive financial literacy program, Money Coach, D’Amonte makes it very clear: “Before I did Money Coach, I didn’t care about tracking expenses or budgeting.” Six months after starting the program and landing his first job? “Every time I get paid, I think about what I need and make a list of what needs to be paid for that week.”
It’s a snapshot of success from one student, but, as we edge toward 50,000 students total involved in our programming, I’m extremely proud to say that D’Amonte is one of many.
Again, I hope you take a look around the site and share the stories, videos, stats and programs. We are always looking for feedback, especially from those interested in interacting with students or enhancing their classroom lessons. We’re deeply appreciative of all of you who have joined our movement to improve financial literacy for teens across Wisconsin. And stay tuned, because the new site is just the start of our plans for a huge 10th year at Make A Difference – Wisconsin!
