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LifeSmarts Competition Building Teen
Financial $marts
Consumer
Group Calls on Inactive States to Initiate LifeSmarts Programs during
National Consumer Protection Week
Release
Date: February 2, 2004
Contact: 202-835-3323,
media@nclnet.org
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today,
the kick-off of National Consumer Protection Week 2004 (Financial
Literacy: Earning a Lifetime of Dividends),
the nation’s oldest consumer advocacy group and sponsor of the program
LifeSmarts: the Ultimate Consumer Challenge, commended the state-level
competitions heating up across the country and called on nearly two
dozen inactive states to get their high school students involved.
LifeSmarts (www.lifesmarts.org),
a decade-old program run by the National Consumers League (NCL), is a
consumer education competition that tests teens in grades 9-12 about
personal finance, health and safety, the environment, technology, and
consumer rights and responsibilities. Students begin by logging on,
taking a series of practice quizzes, and forming teams to compete first
online, and then at the state level, for a chance to go to the national
competition, which this year will be held in Chicago, Ill. Last year,
thousands of students answered 1.5 million consumer questions at
www.lifesmarts.org,
honing their consumer smart. Students from nearly 30 states will make
their way to the national competition April 24-27 and vie for the
national championship title.
But left behind are students from Alaska,
Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa,
Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and
Wyoming. Some of these states have participated in the past with
state-level competitions, which are often run by state attorneys
general, Better Business Bureaus, credit counseling services,
cooperative extension programs, universities or other organizations.
Often, budget or staff cuts lead to the state-level elimination of the
LifeSmarts programs.
“It takes a commitment to bring LifeSmarts
to the state level,” said Linda Golodner, president of the National
Consumers League. “But it’s an investment in our future consumers that’s
well-worth it. I challenge the states that aren’t active in the
LifeSmarts program to make it a priority to bring this fun opportunity
to their high school students.”
To learn more about the LifeSmarts
program, contact Lisa Hertzberg, LifeSmarts program director, at the
National Consumers League at 202-835-3323 or
lisah@nclnet.org or visit
www.lifesmarts.org.
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