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THE GIRL SCOUTS MEAN BUSINESS … AND WE LIKE IT!

So excited about the news that Girl Scouts are adding badges like Money manager, Budgeting, Financing my future, Good credit, and Philanthropy. From Forbes today – and they point to some other great ways to get kids interested in finances like Junior Achievement’s camps, and the iPhone app Kids Money. Of course, I’d add Lemonade Day to the list as well …

AN EARLY EDUCATION IN FINANCIAL LITERACY

by April Dykman

Last week J.D.’s wife, Kris, e-mailed me about an NPR story on a recent Girl Scout badge overhaul, specifically about merit badges for financial literacy. On the October 12 episode of Today on All Things Considered, host Guy Raz talks to Alisha Niehaus of the Girl Scouts of the USA about the update, the first major restructuring of the badge system since 1987:

“…we’re really a girl-led, girl-driven organization,” says Niehaus. “So we went to the girls and we said, what are you interested in learning, what do you think will prepare you for success, and what do you want and need for the next century? So that’s how we got all our new categories.”

According to a TIME article on the new program structure, if one of the nearly 3 million girls in the program wants to explore an area of study not already covered by the 100-plus merit badges, she can design her own area of study.

Girl Scouts aren’t just about cookies and camping anymore. Changes to stay relevant and reach the modern girl come amid a drop in cookie sales and donations and investment losses. In 2007, Scouts lost $1 million nationally in membership dues and an additional $1 million in donations.

Merit badges for financial literacy

Many of the traditional badges will stick around, such as cooking, athletics, first aid, and nature badges. New badges added to reflect modern times include the following:

Digital movie maker
Website designer
Computer expert
Geocacher
Locavore

Another new category of merit badges is financial literacy, with 13 types of personal finance badges, each earned by completing five activities. As a girl works her way from Daisy to Ambassador, she can earn some of the following money-related badges:

Money manager
Budgeting
Financing my future
Good credit
Philanthropy

The activities vary depending on age, with activities for 5-year-olds like recognizing different coins and activities for preteens like drawing up a budget.