City Kidz Ice Cream Cafe isn't your typical lunch spot on Saturday afternoons.  Sure you'll find one of Springfield's newest restaurants at the corner of 3rd and Main full of children and teens but most of them won't be gorging on the delicious ice cream sweets served up by founders and Springfield residents Pastor Clinton Bush and his wife Sonya.  Instead the youth inside will be playing board games, engaging in workshops on credit, financing or most recently listening to Mayor John Peyton discuss return on investment and the differences between the business of running a city and a private enterprise.

"The idea is to expose them to the concepts of credit, fixed and variable expenses, loans and interest" said Soyna.  "We use workbooks and the board game Cash Flow for Kids to help them gain familiarity to the terminology."  City Kidz also offers a convenience card that can be used as a tool to help teach budgeting.  Parents can load the card instead of providing a credit card or cash.  Pastor Bush said "It's a tool that parents can use to help teach responsibility and help their children develop a habit of budgeting."

The City Kidz Financial Literacy Bootcamp is open to all and offered twice a year, from September to April and May to December.  Students must present their report cards for tracking the impact on their academic performance and successful completion of the program can lead to employment at City Kidz.  Students are exposed to entrepreneurship, business leaders and politicians and follow a lesson plan that also introduces business basics in areas of marketing, purchasing, sales, finance, sponsorship and branding.  At the completion of the course they complete a business plan and discuss the feasibility.

If you know a child or teen who would like to participate in City Kidz next Financial Literacy Bootcamp, contact Pastor Clinton or Sonya Bush, 904-634-8899.

Or just stop in for some outstanding ice cream and paninis!