Our Story
Financial Scholars was founded in Philadelphia in 2020. It is an evolution of a program that launched in 2016 in which the FS Foundation partnered with the University of Pennsylvania to create a financial empowerment program for historically overlooked and under-served high school students and school communities.
Building on this proven model, members of the Philadelphia financial services community, as well as several law firms, accounting firms and community organizations, joined to expand the program and reach more teachers, families and students with critical financial empowerment programs.
Financial Scholars expanded to include curriculum and professional development for daily in-school financial literacy education, entrepreneurship enrichment powered by corporate and university volunteers, paid summer workforce development programming for teens, and evening financial empowerment workshops for adults in our school communities.
The Philadelphia program yielded outstanding results for thousands of students served - 61% growth in students' financial knowledge. Expansion to other comparable high-need school districts began in 2024.