EFLS believes that educating today’s youth financially is a  priority.  In their recent cross country consultations, the Canadian federal government’s  National Task Force on Financial Literacy found that a highly common recommendation is that schools take a greater and more active role in teaching financial literacy to youth.  The fundamental challenge for many teachers and schools is to make learning about personal money management engaging, meaningful and have life-long impact for the students.

EFLS is meeting this challenge with their innovative approach to financial education.   Since 2008, it has been approached by a number of Edmonton area high schools to offer support to their respective Career & Life Management (CALM) curriculums. To date, EFLS has delivered this type of financial education support to over 600 High School students.  On March 7, 2011 EFLS was named recipient of the 2010 Alberta Consumer Champion Award in the Non-profit organization category from Service Alberta with respect to its partnership role in this regard.

The common motivation for these high schools approaching EFLS is that the financial literacy education currently being taught in Edmonton area high schools tend to be very simplistic and primarily focus just on preparing a budget and tracking one's expenses. These high schools were seeking a more comprehensive educational alternative with a greater behavioural component to teaching personal money management skills to youth and through a variety of referrals, contacted EFLS to assist in fulfilling this unmet need. Furthermore, EFLS' approach also helps teachers to become more focused when they are teaching the C.A.L.M. curriculum and about how to improve the students' awareness of life skills.

EFLS is also happy to assist other requests from schools, local youth groups, and summer camps.  EFLS is more than willing to provide assistance and their expertise in these cases; but it’s capability to do so may be dependent on funding availability.