NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Rock The Street, Wall Street (RTSWS) celebrates International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month raising awareness and celebrating students, alumnae and volunteers. This innovative nonprofit brings underserved, racially diverse high school girls additional opportunities to engage with math before proactively selecting college courses and ultimately their career pursuits. RTSWS alumnae earn degrees in finance, economics, or related business fields at 9x the American national average for women in college.
“We understand math and the awesome power it brings. Sparking the students’ interest at a critical juncture in pre-college planning and career selection is transformational”
With more than 25 years of Wall Street experience, RTSWS Founder & CEO Maura Cunningham turned her attention to the next generation of girls. “We understand math and the awesome power it brings. Sparking the students’ interest at a critical juncture in pre-college planning and career selection is transformational,” Ms. Cunningham explained. “STEM professions are exciting, purposeful and they lift families out of poverty in one generation. At the same time, these students diversify the pipeline with talented, motivated young women entering the workforce, strengthening the field.”
Throughout Women’s History Month, Rock The Street, Wall Street is participating in several industry events to raise awareness, thank volunteers, recognize students and alumnae, and welcome new partner firms, including ING Americas, Ninety One and Bloomberg.
“As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we are grateful to our sponsors and volunteers for helping our remarkable students and alumnae,” Ms. Cunningham added. “We know we have a long road ahead of us, so it’s great to reflect on our wins and support as we move forward together.”
RTSWS March Activities & Celebrations Include:
- Podcast with CFA Society United Kingdom and RTSWS Founder & CEO Maura Cunningham, coming soon!
- Podcast with RTSWS Volunteer & Seelaus CEO Annie Seelaus and RTSWS Founder & CEO Maura Cunningham, coming soon!
- Inaugural donation from the Texas Alternatives Investment Association
- Women’s Investment Update on RTSWS with MFA Members in Florida
- International Women’s Day Celebration in New York featuring Founder & CEO Maura Cunningham, hosted by Vested co-founders Dan Simon and Binna Kim
- Technology Tools for Today, T3 Advisor Conference – Bridging the Persistent Gender Gap in Financial Services
- Los Angeles kick off, coordinating the academic year 2023-24 launch with new sponsors Cetera, LightBay Capital and Conrad H. Hilton Foundation
- New and ongoing partner firms, sponsors and volunteers’ engagement
Rock the Street, Wall Street is proud to have recently added ING Americas, Ninety One, and Bloomberg to their esteemed group of partner firms leading the way. Sponsors include Blackrock, Meta, J.P. Morgan, LPL, EY, Franklin Templeton, Invesco, Fitch, and Morningstar. Click here for the complete list.
Rock The Street, Wall Street is now in 62 high schools across 34 cities and has engaged more than 6,000 girls through its program. Upon completion of the program, students’ comprehension of financial and investment concepts improve by an average of 71%, and their interest in pursuing a degree in finance, economics, or related field is 9x higher than the national average of women attending college. 73% of RTSWS students are from BIPOC populations and 50% are from low-income households. Rock The Street, Wall Street is a 501(c)3, and operates in the US, Vancouver and London.
About Rock The Street, Wall Street
RTSWS is an innovative nonprofit that brings the world of finance to high school girls, helping to provide financial and investment literacy before college and career selections are made. Aiming to increase girls’ interest in the financial industry, former Wall Street executive, Maura Cunningham, founded RTSWS, which has expanded internationally to bring STEM to young women in more than 60 high schools across 34 cities across the US and now in London and Vancouver. The programs leverage women leaders in the financial industry as volunteer instructors and coaches, and firms as sponsors. RTSWS helps the students see themselves in key roles, expanding their reach and offers them the social capital and a flight path into the M in STEM careers. RTSWS alumnae earn degrees in finance, economics or related business field at a 9x the American national average for women in college.
RTSWS solves for a few problems: Girls often opt away from STEM, Math in particular, at young ages. This group strives to strengthen technical and mathematical skills, teach financial lexicon, and create solutions to overcome the gender gap in math and investing with a woman leader actively involved in teaching each program. Leadership statistics of powerful investment firms repeatedly demonstrate a lack of gender diversity in the C-suite and as money managers. The nonprofit deploys technology and in-person training to improve the diversity in talent slates and increase qualified candidates across all aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion, expanding the talent pipeline for interested and engaged investment, technology and FinTech firms.
