Washington, DC, April 22, 2020 —Today, Rep. Ted Budd held a virtual visit with Davie County High School students participating in the SIFMA Foundation’s Capitol Hill Challenge program, underwritten by the Charles Schwab Foundation. This national 14-week financial education competition pairs individual members of Congress with public schools in every congressional district, equipping middle and high school students to become financially capable and civics minded.

Rep. Budd spoke with Davie County High School’s student teams who have spent the semester managing a hypothetical $100,000 investment portfolio of listed stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and impact investments, learning about saving, investing, and the global capital markets. The competition uses the SIFMA Foundation’s curriculum-based Stock Market Game^™, a financial education program that is proven to advance students’ performance on math and economics tests and improves students’ and teachers’ personal financial behavior.

 “For more than a decade, the SIFMA Foundation’s Capitol Hill Challenge and Stock Market Game have helped students from around the country become financially capable,” said Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA President & CEO. “Our industry is committed to helping students learn the importance of saving and investing, while also providing them a solid foundation to achieve their future financial goals. I’d like to give special thanks to lawmakers like Rep. Budd who are connecting personally to engage students on these important issues.”

“Since day one, Schwab has been committed to making investing and financial education accessible to everyone,” said Jeff Brown, Senior Vice President, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Charles Schwab. “Our support of the Capitol Hill Challenge^™ is an extension of our commitment to advocating for more financial literacy programs and to giving people the education and tools they need to take control of their financial futures. We applaud Congress for its commitment to advancing students’ understanding of personal finance.”

“Now more than ever, we understand the critical need to inform and prepare young people for their financial lives,” said Melanie Mortimer, President of the SIFMA Foundation. “Through public-private collaborations like the Capitol Hill Challenge, the SIFMA Foundation is pleased to work with every US Member of Congress and Charles Schwab to achieve the goal of delivering financial capability to public schools nationwide. We thank Congress for this commitment, and we commend leaders like Rep. Budd who enhance the program’s impact by virtually visiting their local schools.”

Since the Capitol Hill Challenge began in 2004, the program has coordinated more than 5,000 matches of U.S. representatives and senators with schools, reaching more than 125,000 students. Middle and high school students from all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia are participating in this year’s competition.

For more details and to view updates about this year’s program, visit the Capitol Hill Challenge website at  www.stockmarketgame.org/capitol-hill-challenge.html

The SIFMA Foundation is committed to ensuring that students, teachers, and parents can continue to access critical financial education outside of the classroom through a 100% distance learning-enabled virtual classroom. Free programming for teachers, students and parents is helping hundreds of thousands of individuals access quality educational resources despite school disruptions and closures. Additionally, in recognition of Financial Literacy Month, SIFMA Foundation is calling on communities to show appreciation for teachers through the Make a Teacher’s Day campaign at twitter.com/sifmafoundation.  To help support financial education in communities hardest hit at this time, a tax-deductible contribution can be made to the SIFMA Foundation at http://utility4/confmgmt_dev/FoundationReports.aspx.

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 About SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game^™

SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game is a curriculum-based program where student teams in grades 4-12 learn about the global marketplace and long-term saving and investing fundamentals by using a hypothetical brokerage account. The program serves 15,000 teachers and 600,000 students annually. Teachers receive professional development and grade-level specific curriculum guides, lesson plans and newsletters to incorporate the program into their core mathematics, social studies, business, economics and language arts programs. To register for The Stock Market Game, please visit: www.stockmarketgame.org

About the SIFMA Foundation for Investor Education

The SIFMA Foundation is a 501c3 charitable organization dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of the financial markets for individuals of all backgrounds, with a focus on youth.  Drawing on the support and expertise of educators and the financial industry, the SIFMA Foundation provides financial education programs and tools that strengthen economic opportunities across communities and increase individuals’ access to the benefits of the global marketplace. Notable Foundation programs include The Stock Market Game^™, which has served more than 18 million students since it began in 1977, the InvestWrite^® national essay competition, the Capitol Hill Challenge^™, and Invest It Forward^®. For more information on the work of the SIFMA Foundation, visit www.sifma.org/foundation.

About SIFMA

SIFMA is the leading trade association for broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers operating in the U.S. and global capital markets. On behalf of our industry’s nearly one million employees, we advocate on legislation, regulation and business policy, affecting retail and institutional investors, equity and fixed income markets and related products and services. We serve as an industry coordinating body to promote fair and orderly markets, informed regulatory compliance, and efficient market operations and resiliency. We also provide a forum for industry policy and professional development. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org.

About Charles Schwab Foundation

Charles Schwab Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization funded by The Charles Schwab Corporation (Charles Schwab). Its mission is to create positive change through financial education, philanthropy, and volunteerism. More information is available at www.aboutschwab.com/community. The Charles Schwab Foundation is classified by the IRS as a charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation is neither a part of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC) or its affiliates.

About Charles Schwab

At Charles Schwab, we believe in the power of investing to help individuals create a better tomorrow. We have a history of challenging the status quo in our industry, innovating in ways that benefit investors and the advisors and employers who serve them, and championing our clients’ goals with passion and integrity. More information is available at www.aboutschwab.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.