The Foundation has been a leader in supporting the creation and wide dissemination of highly engaging financial literacy curriculum for NYC High School Students which, in 2026, was recommended by the NYS Department of Education. Get a Financial Life (GFL) NYC is a free financial literacy curriculum designed for New York City’s 11th and 12th graders that teaches the practical money skills young people need as they transition to adulthood. Bestselling author and financial education advocate Beth Kobliner, together with Jonathan Wroble, developed the curriculum based on interviews with more than 300 NYC public school students, teachers, principals, and nonprofit leaders to ensure the lessons reflect the real financial questions and decisions students face. With support from the Foundation, the curriculum was piloted and will be taught in over 60 New York City high schools.
Our funding recognized that many students – particularly those from underserved backgrounds – graduate from high school without basic knowledge of how to manage money, evaluate financial choices, or avoid costly mistakes related to credit, debt, and postsecondary decisions. These are decisions that can shape economic independence for years to come. As New York State moved toward requiring personal finance education in high schools beginning in the 2026–2027 school year, we saw an opportunity for a high-quality, ready-to-use curriculum to help schools meet that requirement and ensure students receive practical instruction that prepares them for real financial decisions.
The program consists of ten lessons covering core topics such as budgeting, saving in a bank, debit cards, credit, smart spending, investing, working, college and credentials, and health insurance. Each lesson can be delivered in a single class period and can be taught by any educator – including classroom teachers, college counselors, or advisory staff – regardless of subject area or prior financial expertise, making it easy for schools to embed the material into existing courses. We supported the pilot implementation in 14 high schools across the 5 boroughs, in which GFL NYC worked closely with selected teachers at each school to test and iterate on the beta lessons, providing a year-long feedback loop. GFL has now been recommended by the NYS Department of Education as one of the resources that provides full personal finance curricula or units that may be implemented in a stand-alone course, embedded within or across required courses, or delivered within Career and Technical Education programming. We further supported GFL NYC’s expansion to reach over 60 high schools in the 2026-27 academic year, including all of the high schools in one of the largest NYC school districts: Queens North.