Photo by Josie Burkhart Anessa Keefer, children’s librarian at Belmont County District Library, said the Kids’ Money Program Grant the district library received will help teach kids about money and ease their financial anxieties.
MARTINS FERRY — Children at six Belmont County District Library branches can learn how to budget, save and earn money through a “Thinking Money for Kids” grant.
The six branches include public libraries in Martins Ferry, Bridgeport, Bethesda, Victoria Reed in Flushing, Shadyside and Powhatan Point.
Children’s librarian Anessa Kiefer applied for the grant in July 2023 and received notification in November that all six branches had been awarded the grant.
“There was a chance that not everyone would get it,” she said, “so this news was very exciting.”
The grant program is a collaboration between the American Library Association and the Finra Investor Education Foundation, who have committed to awarding grants to 300 libraries across the United States to help cover all costs associated with the program.
The program grant will cover a set of five games and six Launchpad tablets. Over the next year, the library will use the games to create programs to promote financial literacy for children ages 3 to 12, but anyone can participate and no one will be turned away, according to Keefer. All programs will be free and open to the public.
Games include Penny Pinchers Party, Currency Conga, Make Money, Pet Cents, Piggy Bank Theatre and more. Each branch is given six tablets to pass around from person to person to take back and return. The tablets come pre-loaded with financial education games for learning at home. They are also closed systems and do not require Wi-Fi.
Keefer will lead the program at the library on Tuesday nights, with programs at Martins Ferry at 6pm, Powhatan Point at 4pm and the other libraries at 5pm. Each branch will have five programs and will reorganize next fall to add more.
The first program was held last Tuesday night at the Shadyside Public Library. The next program will be held at the Martins Ferry Public Library next Tuesday, with each program held at a different branch the following Tuesday. Each branch will take turns playing the board game before moving on to the next branch.
Announcements about programs will be posted on the library’s Facebook page approximately two weeks prior to the event.
Keefer said his goal is to teach kids about the money they can earn and eliminate financial anxiety.
“Typically, when you talk to someone about finances and money and budgeting, the first reaction is stress,” Keefer says, “so we want kids to become familiar with these concepts at a young age.”
She believes that children should start becoming familiar with money from an early age because money management is a life skill.
“The economy is changing,” Keefer says, “and if kids don’t learn how to manage money now, they won’t be able to cope in a changing environment, so we want to instill the basics and principles before things get too complicated.”
“Penny Pincher’s Party,” a party planning game, is the first program each of the six chapters will run for children. Participants start with $100 in play money and can choose from a variety of items to use in their party, including a costume trunk and petting zoo, which teaches them about budgeting.
Keefer said he doesn’t want to over-teach the kids, but wants them to learn from the game.
Keefer said this is an opportunity to expand Belmont County District Library’s programs in ways they’ve never done before.
“This is all new for us,” she said, “at least in the last eight years that I’ve been here, we haven’t offered any financial literacy classes for any age group. When you think of financial literacy, you think of adults sorting things out. So we’re trying to broaden people’s horizons, because kids are sponges.”
Through this grant, Keefer hopes to get kids interested in money in a responsible way.
“I want kids to understand that money is fun, but it’s also a really, really important tool in life,” she said.
