Financial Fridays: Wells Fargo

The top five ways Hands on Banking is unique:

1. It works in the classroom.
   Educator resources like lesson plans and activities help you engage students in classrooms, afterschool programs, and other group settings.
2. It works at home too.
   Hands on Banking extends beyond the classroom so students can keep learning at home, with courses and family activities for elementary, middle, and high school. Teachers can even assign activities as homework following a lesson.
3. Adults also get content tailored for them.
   If the adults in a student’s life want to build their financial knowledge, we have them covered too. Handsonbanking.org helps adults learn about banking, budgeting, saving, credit, homebuying, and more.
4. Esta en español también.
   Spanish-language versions of both the main and youth sites, with courses, activities, articles, and videos, are available as El future en tus manos®.
5. It creates community engagement.
   Wells Fargo employee volunteers often facilitate Hands on Banking sessions in schools and communities. The exposure to career paths and supportive community members can inspire students well beyond gaining money skills.

We’ve made our Hands on Banking Experience, a live money-management simulation for teens and young adults, more versatile for a virtual/hybrid world. Traditionally, participants move around a room visiting physical “stations” where they make budget decisions about real-life expenses. Now, we also offer more streamlined and adaptable facilitation tools.

These groups are great examples:

• At the 100 Black Men of America conference, Wells Fargo volunteers led 80 students through the game, all progressing together so students could also learn from their peers.
• During the Starkloff Disability Institute’s Dream Big Career Camp, high school students with disabilities played the Hands on Banking Experience from home via virtual meeting. Some told us it was their favorite part of camp!

If you would like to consult on bringing the Hands on Banking Experience to your students, or anything else, please contact us at hobinfo@wellsfargo.com.