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Chairman Johnson Co-chairs Financial Literacy Session at Anacostia Economic Summit

May 3, 2006, Alexandria, VA – National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Chairman JoAnn Johnson joined government, private sector, and non-profit leaders in Anacostia, a SE  Washington, D.C. neighborhood for a one-day economic Summit which was organized to celebrate the 1st anniversary of the Hope Center, which is dedicated to improving the economic quality of life in emerging markets. Chairman Johnson and U.S. Department of Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Education, Dan Iannicola, co-chaired the Financial Literacy session which provided a forum for participants to discuss critical aspects of Financial Literacy issues.

“Financial Literacy is an issue that is vital to Americans of all ages and backgrounds,” said Chairman Johnson. “It is never too early, or too late to learn about handling money responsibly. However, the sooner we reach America’s youth with the tools of financial education, the better the opportunities will be for them to reach the financial mainstream. This session today discussed many innovative ways the government and private sectors can work together to educate citizens of all ages how to achieve their American dream.”

The panelists on the Financial Literacy session included: Laura Levin, Executive Director of Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy; Jeanne Mulgrave, Commissioner, City of New York; Gwen Robinson, Director of Consumer Affairs, GE Consumer Finance; and Jeff Carter, Executive Director of D.C. Learns.

The Summit celebrated the 1st anniversary of the opening of the Hope Center in Washington, D.C. Hope Centers are a working “one stop” location which serves the local community by providing credit counseling services, mortgage loan funding, workforce development and training, and small business technical assistance grants. For more information regarding Operation Hope and Hope Centers, feel free to visit: www.operationhope.org
Chairman Johnson was joined at the summit by many speakers and session leaders, including:

• Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank;
• Anthony Williams, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
• John Hope Bryant, Chairman of Operation Hope;
•  Hector Barreto, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration;
• Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development;
• Paul Atkins, Commissioner, U.S. Securities Exchange Commission;
• John D. Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Department of Treasury
• Desiree Sayle, Director of The White House Office of USA Freedom Corps; and  
• Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve

“I commend Operation Hope for emphasizing the importance of financial literacy,” said Chairman Johnson. “I encourage credit unions to continue playing a vital role in this effort to educate and empower emerging markets, and I look forward to witnessing first hand the positive impact on communities, especially right here in our Nation’s Capital.”  

The National Credit Union Administration is the independent federal agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. NCUA, with the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, operates the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), insuring the savings of nearly 85 million account holders in all federal credit unions and many state-chartered credit unions. NCUA operations are funded by credit unions, not tax dollars.