University of Arizona

The TCAI, in collaboration with Arizona Cooperative Extension, supports an array of financial education outreach programs including the Take Charge Cats, The Arizona Financial Face-off, Building Financial Security, and the Early Childhood Financial Literacy Lending Library.

The Institute’s "Take Charge Cats" program trains university students to be financial education ambassadors who present financial education seminars each semester in high schools and middle schools across the greater Tucson community. Each year the Institute organizes and hosts a personal finance case study competition that brings several hundred of high school students to campus to analyze true-to-life cases of household financial distress and compete to offer the best solutions.

Building Financial Security is a 4-part series that takes an in-depth look at managing money offered through Cooperative Extension. Where Does Your Money Go? is a two-hour basic personal finance workshop to get people thinking about their relationship with money.

The Early Childhood Financial Literacy Lending Library is a portable kit with children’s books and parent tip sheets located at select Early Childhood Education Centers to help parents of young children (ages 3 to 5) instill an understanding of money, the difference between needs and wants, and making choices, using children’s storybooks and supporting materials.