Augusto “Cookie” Rojas, Jr. to receive “$park a Student” Youth Personal Financial Education Award

April 27th, 2007 – The RI Jump$tart Coalition is pleased to present Augusto “Cookie” Rojas, Jr. with the second annual “$park a Student” Youth Financial Literacy Award recognizing his work to educate Ocean State Youth about wise money management.

Mr. Rojas will receive the award at the annual RI Jump$tart Coalition Financial Literacy Leaders’ Luncheon (noon at Roger Williams Park Casino), at which United States Treasurer, Anna Escobedo Cabral will deliver a keynote address.

Jim Hedemark, Executive Director of the RI Jump$tart Coalition summarizes Mr. Rojas’ accomplishments, “The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition is pleased to present Mr. Augusto Rojas, Jr. with the “$park a Student” award for his tireless efforts and passion for teaching Ocean State youth important personal financial literacy skills.

Over the past 5 years Mr. Rojas has taught over 600 high school students at 11 different area high schools a financial literacy program that culminates in Real World Day – a simulation where students apply lessons learned to real world situations.

The program "helps students identify their money management goals, develop a budget, understand the cost of using credit, and learn about general banking products like checking, savings and CDs, providing immeasurable value to participants and local communities alike.”

Mr. Rojas conducted the bulk of his outreach work while with Pawtucket Credit Union (2002 – 2007) in the capacity of Assistant Vice President / Community Development Officer.In February of 2007 Mr. Rojas left the credit union to pursue a lifelong desire to work in professional baseball and now serves as the General Sales Manager of the Pawtucket Red Sox Baseball Club, Inc. Mr. Rojas resides in Barrington with his wife Kristin and their four children.

The RI Jump$tart Coalition presents the “$park a Student” Youth Financial Literacy award to Rhode Island residents who make outstanding efforts to personally deliver youth personal financial education programming to Ocean State youth. The 2006 recipient was General Treasurer, Paul J. Tavares.

The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition (founded in 2004) is an coalition of dozens of Ocean State and New England region businesses, community organizations, educational institutions, government agencies and officers. The coalition¹s mission is “to increase the financial literacy of individuals in Rhode Island.” The coalition¹s website is www.rijumpstart.org

In 2006, for the first time, Rhode Island high school seniors participated in the national Jump$tart Coalition personal financial literacy survey that measures teenagers¹ knowledge of personal financial literacy topics. Rhode Island high school seniors answered 48.8% of the questions correctly. The national average was 52.4%. For more details on the national survey, please click here.

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