Program:

Eileen Halling introduced Jane and Jim Gerling and Ruth Benedict to highlight a Geneva Rotary grant for Geneva 2030/Geneva Reads. They explained some history and gave an outline of $mart Thinking, “…a program that combines child savings accounts and financial literacy education for the children in the Geneva City School District.” With this program, $100 will be held in a fund for each child in kindergarten and $50 will be added each year until the child graduates from high school.  Financial education will be provided at every (grade)level. This program is necessary since “despite our best efforts, poverty continues to be the over arching issue” in Geneva. The poverty rate in Geneva is 2x higher than the rest of Ontario County.