May 1--A new private-public partnership aims to help today's young people become tomorrow's financially savvy adults.

Details of the We Prosper Initiative were unveiled Wednesday at a summit in Oklahoma City attended by lawmakers, bankers, educators and others.

The initiative is part of a two-tier technology platform focused on increasing financial literacy among children and young adults.

"People know that financial literacy is a crisis at the moment," said Scott Klososky, founder of Shryk LLC, an Edmond-based software company. "People know we have a problem and there are some trying to fix it but statistically nothing has been improved. We're getting worse and worse, and that cannot keep happening. We cannot become a debtor nation and let people become bankrupt."

Klososky came up with the idea for the system a couple of years ago as he was giving a speech and trying to help credit unions understand how they could use technology to improve their operations. He presented the idea of building an online banking system to help kids better understand money.

"A bank or credit union is a perfect place to teach financial literacy because that is where the real money is,"

Klososky said in a phone interview.

Klososky, along with a team of technology and banking entrepreneurs who all have built successful companies, formed Shryk. They also started the We Prosper organization, which is a not-for-profit organization designed to promote public-private partnerships among schools, financial institutions, educational associations, government organizations and parents.

Shryk's goal is to improve financial literacy by uniting banks and schools on a single software platform or Web site.

For a fee, Shryk will offer the online banking platform to financial institutions that will allow children to manage their own accounts. The company also will provide the technology platform free to schools.

The initiative is aimed at young people from ages 5 to 24, and content is divided into three different sections, based on children's age.

Shryk will start testing the online banking platform in July and begin testing the software in schools this fall. Over the next month or so, some pilot communities will be selected to test the platform, including sites in Oklahoma, Missouri and Washington, D.C., Klososky said. He will publicly unveil the technology platform June 25 in Washington.

"We know that the Internet is a powerful tool for this next generation. And parents and teachers and banks and kids can all share this. This is the first time anyone has tried anything like this," he said.

Among its capabilities, the system can provide a savings score, similar to adult credit scores, that will allow kids to see how well they're saving money, Klososky said.

Children also will be able to download different business plans that will help them start a neighborhood business for mowing lawns, baby sitting, pet sitting, or shining shoes.

Parents also will have the ability to set up automated allowance withdrawals or drafts whereby the system transfers money from their account to their child's.

Typically, parents open savings accounts for their children, but the children have no attachment to the accounts, Klososky said. "They can't see or touch them. This completely changes that model where kids can now have a relationship with the bank."

Shryk's concept is gaining national attention. Klososky has met with U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral,and the firm has been in touch with Dave Ramsey, a financial writer, radio and television host. Relationships also are being built with Junior Achievement, the Jump$tart Coalition and Oklahoma CareerTech.

More information about Shryk is available at visit www.tulsaworld.com/shryk.

Laurie Winslow 581-8466

laurie.winslow@tulsaworld.com

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