Thank you for the tremendous interest in Unlocked Financial Futures. The response from our families has been far beyond what we expected, and our 5th, 6th and 7th grade classes are now full.
If your student is entering 8th grade, you may still enroll below. For all other grades, we are taking names for our waiting list and will contact you directly the moment a seat becomes available.
Every enrolled student must have a completed Parent Intake Form on file before they can begin the program. It carries your emergency contacts, authorized pickup names, and any allergy or medical information our staff needs.
Complete the Parent Intake Form →A federally funded, K–8 financial literacy program where students don't just learn about money — they earn it, save it, invest it, and watch it grow, one classroom session at a time.
Students don't just read about money — they operate inside a live token economy (Harvest Bucks) with real accounts, real interest, and real trade-offs, while a full K–8 curriculum builds toward four capstone simulations: an investment club, running a bank, an investment firm, and a hedge fund.
Every lesson is aligned with the Maryland State Standards — built to raise performance on the MCAP and strengthen ELA scores, not compete with them, by teaching the same math and reading skills through a financial context students are motivated to engage with. The curriculum is also mapped to COMAR and PGCPS learning objectives for each grade level, so what happens in this program reinforces — never replaces — what's being taught in the regular classroom.
Students don't study banking — they run a bank. Real roles, real Harvest Bucks, real decisions.
Every lesson maps to the Maryland State Standards for Personal Financial Literacy Education (COMAR 13A.04.06.01), and integrates directly with the math students are already learning in school.
Every lesson gives your student real reading, real practice, something to build with their hands, and real people and places outside the classroom — paired with an always-on classroom economy they carry from session to session.
Real case studies and real people — like NFL linebacker Shaquem Griffin's career — teach the vocabulary and concepts behind every lesson.
Guided and independent practice that applies the same math standard your student is already learning in their regular math class.
An in-class activity plus a take-home version families can do together.
A short video or slide deck that opens or closes the lesson and keeps the concept memorable.
Real-world trips to places like NASA, the Federal Reserve, and Howard University — connecting classroom concepts to real institutions your student can see and walk through.
Direct access to real hedge fund leaders, CNBC analysts, career financial planners, former NFL players, and AI systems engineers — so your student hears from people actually working in these fields.
Every session, students earn Harvest Bucks and decide where to put them — real account tiers, real interest rates, tracked live.
Backed by a signed Memorandum of Understanding, not just an aspiration.
Fifth graders learn the three functions of money through the real career of NFL linebacker Shaquem Griffin — then apply the exact multi-digit multiplication standard they're already learning in math class to calculate his career earnings.
Click the right edge to turn the page, the left edge to go back. Every page here is real — condensed from the actual Student Textbook, Student Workbook, and Experience Guide your student works from.
| Function | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Medium of Exchange | Universally accepted for trading — no double coincidence of wants required. |
| Store of Value | Holds value over time — the basis for all saving and investing. |
| Unit of Account | A common measure of value — makes comparison and budgeting possible. |
| Function | Griffin Example |
|---|---|
| Medium of Exchange | _______________________ |
| Store of Value | _______________________ |
| Unit of Account | _______________________ |
Every lesson feeds this. Students bank real Harvest Bucks every session, and this is the same kind of portal a teacher uses to record it — try it below. This is a working example with a sample student, not a screenshot.
The projects built on top of that economy grow with the student. Depending on grade level, students build on their cumulative learning to run a real investment club, bank, investment fund, or hedge fund — the capstones shown earlier. In other grade levels, students instead develop a real business idea of their own and scale it toward market, with the help of guest speakers and outside partnerships along the way.
Imagine Lincoln runs the full program first. What's learned there shapes how the program expands.
Enrollment opens for grades 5–8, with the Harvest Bucks economy and Wall of Investors recognition program running live for the first time.
Underway nowA full year of real classroom data informs revisions to the curriculum, the economy's incentive structure, and teacher facilitation materials.
The final year of the current federal grant cycle — building the case, and the playbook, for bringing Unlocked Financial Futures to additional 21st CCLC sites.
Unlocked Financial Futures is offered at no cost to families through 21st CCLC federal after-school funding. Ready to learn more? Fill out the short form below and we'll follow up.
Revisit the sample lesson ↑Unlocked Financial Futures is offered at no cost to families through 21st CCLC federal after-school funding. Year 1 is currently open to grades 5–8 at Imagine Lincoln.
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