SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation Kick-Off the 14^th Annual  Stock Market Game™-Capitol Hill Challenge

Students in Schools across the U.S. Participate in SIFMA Foundation Competition that Fosters Financial Capability and Exposes Students to Fiscal Policymaking 

Washington, DC, February 6, 2017—SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation today kicked-off the 14^th annual Stock Market Game™-Capitol Hill Challenge (CHC). This national 14-week financial education competition organizes teams of middle and high school students by congressional and senatorial district and teaches them about saving, investing, and government.

Student teams invest a hypothetical $100,000 in listed stocks, bonds, and mutual funds and learn about the capital markets as they work together to maximize the return of their portfolios. The national top 10 teams will be recognized at an awards reception in Washington, D.C. this June. For the past three consecutive years, every Member of Congress has participated in the program.

“We are thrilled to kick-off this year’s Capitol Hill Challenge, an important financial education competition that brings the capital markets to the classroom through the SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game,” said Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA president & CEO. “The financial services industry is committed to helping students learn about the importance of saving and investing, while providing them with a solid foundation to achieve their future financial goals.”

The competition uses the SIFMA Foundation’s curriculum-based Stock Market Game^™, a program to help students develop a better understanding of the global economy, become college and career ready, and improve their knowledge of math, economics, and business. The program is proven to raise student scores on tests of mathematics, economics and financial knowledge. It is also proven to positively impact students’ and teachers’ personal financial behavior.

“The SIFMA Foundation is proud to offer an extraordinary opportunity for every member of congress to pair up with their local schools and promote financial capability,” said Melanie Mortimer, President of the SIFMA Foundation. “America’s students are tomorrow’s leaders and by investing in them now, we are investing in the future prosperity of this nation.” Since the Capitol Hill Challenge began in 2004, 3,732 Member of Congress matches have been made to schools reaching more than 103,000 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.

To view the weekly updates in the rankings from this year’s participating schools, visit the SIFMA Foundation’s website: http://www.sifma.org/chc/.  

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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. For more on the Stock Market Game please visit: http://www.stockmarketgame.org.   

About the SIFMA Foundation for Investor Education

The SIFMA Foundation is 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 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 16 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 http://www.sifma.org/foundation.

About SIFMA

SIFMA is the voice of the U.S. securities industry. We represent the broker-dealers, banks and asset managers whose nearly 1 million employees provide access to the capital markets, raising over $2.5 trillion for businesses and municipalities in the U.S., serving clients with over $18.5 trillion in assets and managing more than $67 trillion in assets for individual and institutional clients including mutual funds and retirement plans. 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.