In the latter half of 2022, TRBF adopted the trade name Econiful for its efforts to support middle and high school teachers around the country with professional development programs and, eventually, a full economics curriculum.
The University of Arizona Office of Economic Education (OEE) primarily serves elementary educators, and also does outreach to Arizona educators of all levels.
Arizona Council on Economic Education
The Arizona Council on Economic Education (ACEE) offers a variety of economics education and personal finance programs throughout Arizona.
VOTE is a nationally recognized innovative curriculum for teachers and college students developed by Dr. Amy Cramer. Dr. Cramer teaches the VOTE curriculum at Pima Community College in Tucson. A PDF of the VOTE Textbook is available online at no cost.
Nearly 20 years ago the Thomas R. Brown Foundation (TRBF) began offering economics-focused professional development programs to K-12 educators in Southern Arizona. Over that time we have dramatically increased the number and variety of our offerings. In the midst of the pandemic we, like educators around the world, went virtual. The new PD delivery methods we adopted make it possible for us to reach a more geographically diverse audience.
While TRBF is a name that is meaningful to Southern Arizonans and to educators who have participated in our workshops, it doesn’t quickly communicate our mission in economics education to those we have not yet served. To better connect with economic educators around the country (and beyond), we adopted a new name and fresh look with Econiful. The University of Arizona Office of Economic Education has shifted its primary focus to elementary educators in Arizona.
We will continue to honor the life and work of Tom Brown by developing and delivering high-quality virtual professional development programs for educators at no monetary cost to our attendees.
The Brown Foundations seek to advance the use of economic principles in public and private decision making through strategic partnerships and educational programs. Our program goal is to equip teachers to increase student exposure to fundamental principles of economics in a neutral and nonpartisan way, and to help students develop an appreciation of how economic analysis applies to everyday choices as well as business and policy issues.
