WHEREAS,  financial education is essential to ensuring that students, young adults and families are prepared to effectively budget, manage, save and invest their money; and

WHEREAS,  the Maine Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a past recipient of the prestigious State Coalition of the Year Award from the National Jump$tart Coalition for its initiatives, efforts and support of personal financial education in Maine, has demonstrated leadership in expanding financial education learning opportunities and outreach for students and educators through free webinars, classroom presentations, programs and other creative initiatives in order to provide a better understanding of personal finance in Maine schools; and

WHEREAS,  the 8th annual Fostering Financial Education in Maine Schools Conference, to be held April 28, 2017 at the Augusta Civic Center, provides training and financial education resources to help include financial literacy instruction in the school experience for K-12 students and young adults; and

WHEREAS,  over the past 7 years the conference has enabled nearly 1,000 teachers and community educators to offer financial literacy instruction and materials to students and young adults in every region of the State; and

WHEREAS,  the conference and other related events and programs are a collaboration of business, government, nonprofit and financial education organizations working together as the Maine Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, including the Office of Securities within the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, the Finance Authority of Maine, the Maine Credit Union League, Maine’s credit unions, the Maine Bankers Association and Maine’s banks; now, therefore, be it