ING U.S. And Girls Inc. Expand Financial Education Partnership

NEW YORK, March 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- After three years of creating hands-on investment experience for girls, ING U.S. and Girls Inc. announced that they will expand their innovative education effort to serve more girls in more locations throughout the U.S. The program expansion includes the addition of five new ING-Girls Inc. Investment Challenge teams and the creation of a new one-year program that will take place at 19 locations. For more information and images, visit the ING-Girls Inc. Investment Challenge media kit. 

The ING-Girls Inc. Investment Challenge will create new teams in Atlanta; Holyoke, Massachusetts; Jacksonville, Florida; New York City; and Minneapolis. In addition, the program will create a two "virtual" teams beginning in September. This initiative gives girls practical, hands-on investing experience with the support of ING U.S. employee volunteers. Teams of girls ages 12-18 build and manage diversified, real-time $50,000 portfolios as part of an integrative investment- and economic-literacy curriculum.

After three years, two-thirds of any gains are paid by the ING Foundation to the girls in the form of scholarships for post-secondary education; one-third of gains are given to the local Girls Inc. affiliate to support programming. The ING-Girls Inc. Investment Challenge was named by the Clinton Global Initiative as one of 13 programs that "will improve the lives of girls and women."  Visit YouTube to watch a video about the ING-Girls Inc. Investment Challenge.

A second component of the expansion is the launch of a new one-year investing curriculum that allows teen girls to develop a $36,000 portfolio as they learn the role of investing, saving, budgeting, and philanthropy in personal finance. They will also engage with financial services professionals around economic education and career options. Twenty groups of girls will partake in the ING-Girls Inc. Investing Matters program in 2013.

"All too often, girls do not gain the understanding, skills, and confidence with money management that is so vital for their adult lives," said Judy Vredenburgh, Girls Inc. President and CEO. "That is why economic literacy is a core part of our mission, and why we are thrilled to expand our collaboration with ING U.S. By combining their financial acumen and the dedication of their employee volunteers with our expertise in girls' development, we are putting girls on the path to a healthy financial future."

"Almost all women will be responsible for their household finances at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, the road to financial empowerment is especially challenging when you have nothing to invest and grow up in households where there is not a lot of family conversation and experiences with saving and investing," said Rhonda Mims, president of the ING Foundation. "These ING-Girls Inc. programs empower girls by giving them real money to manage, and pairs that hands-on experience with knowledge and experience from the ING U.S. and Girls Inc. employees."

About Girls Inc.
Girls Inc. inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold through life-changing programs and experiences that help girls navigate gender, economic, and social barriers. Research-based curricula, delivered by trained, mentoring professionals in a positive all-girl environment equip girls to achieve academically; lead healthy and physically active lives; manage money; navigate media messages; and discover an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. The network of local Girls Inc. nonprofit organizations serves 136,000 girls ages 6 - 18 annually across the United States and Canada. Learn more about our programs and advocacy at www.girlsinc.org.

About ING U.S.
ING U.S. constitutes the U.S.-based retirement, investment and insurance businesses of Netherlands-based ING Groep N.V. (NYSE: ING).  Through the ING U.S. family of companies, we serve the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers with a comprehensive array of products and services, including retirement plans, IRA rollovers and transfers, stable value, institutional investment management, mutual funds, alternative investments, life insurance, employee benefits, fixed and indexed annuities and financial planning.  Our dedicated workforce of more than 7,000 employees is focused on ING U.S.'s mission to make a secure financial future possible - one person, one family and one institution at a time.  For more information, visit http://ing.us.

SOURCE ING U.S.