Voices

CFP Board Center for Financial Planning and Rock the Street, Wall Street partner to attract more female CFPs

The Certified Financial Planner Board Center for Financial PlanningandRock the Street, Wall Streetannounced on Wednesday that the two are partnering to promote financial planning to female high school students via new programs.

Both Rock the Street, Wall Street (RTSWS) and the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning look to help female students find careers in financial planning. The new partnership will seeCFP Board's Women's Initiative (WIN) Advocates– CFP professionals designated by the CFP Board advocating financial planning as a career for women – act as mentors and instructors during five-week career programs for high school girls.

"Financial planning can be a creative and dynamic career for women – but there's an awareness problem. Girls cannot be what they cannot see," stated Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis, executive director of the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning. "Rock the Street, Wall Street will help us place CFP professionals in the classroom so that young women will not only gain insight into what financial planners do, but acquire valuable financial skills in the process."

The first program premiered on October 18 at William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City, NY, where hour-long sessions are given to students once a week for five weeks. Sessions will conclude with a "Wall Street Experience" field trip where students will visit female financial professionals at their Manhattan offices.

"The numbers show we are making a difference," said Maura Cunningham, founder and executive director of Rock the Street, Wall Street, per a statement. "Girls who have participated in our workshops have had an 84 percent increase in their comprehension of financial concepts. They are changing their college searches and major/minor declarations to include finance, accounting and business where before they hadn't even considered these fields. Through our programming, girls can have a better chance at improving their lives, their households, their communities and the financial services industry."

WIN previously published awhite paper in 2014 that explains and seeks to solve the current "feminine famine" in financial planning, where the amount of female professionals have remained at 23 percent for over a decade.

For more on how CFP professionals can become a WIN Advocate can visitwww.cfp.net/WINAdvocate. For more on Rock the Street, Wall Street, head to theirsite here.

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