Two Financial Literacy After School Programs Are Confirmed in Montgomery County for Fall 2026
- Whitney Ramirez, AFC
- 7 hours ago
- 7 min read
Diapers 2 Deposits has two programs locked in upcounty for the 2026 to 2027 school year. One is returning. One is new. They are built to feed each other, which is the part worth understanding before you read the enrollment details.
Families who stopped by the D2D table at the Seneca Valley High School Back-to-School Fair heard the short version. Here is the whole thing.
Key Takeaways
Diapers 2 Deposits has confirmed two school-year programs in Montgomery County for fall 2026: the Money Club for 4th and 5th graders at Watkins Mill Elementary School in Montgomery Village, and the new Millionaire's Club Ambassadors Program at Neelsville Middle School in Germantown.
Both programs run inside Excel Beyond the Bell, the free out-of-school-time initiative operated in partnership by Montgomery County Recreation, Montgomery County Public Schools, and the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families.
The Millionaire's Club Ambassadors Program is documented for a minimum of 15 SSL hours, verified by credentialed D2D staff and recorded on MCPS Form 560-51. MCPS requires 75 SSL hours to graduate high school, and students can begin earning them the summer after Grade 5.
Excel Beyond the Bell Middle served more than 1,900 middle school students through 155 programs at 10 schools in FY25, with average daily attendance of 455, according to the Montgomery County Collaboration Council.
Both sites are site-based, not countywide. Watkins Mill families contact site coordinator Abby Landis at 240-777-6804. Neelsville families contact EBB coordinator Vanessa Blagmon at 240-740-6630.
What is confirmed for fall 2026
Two Diapers 2 Deposits programs are confirmed in Montgomery County for the 2026 to 2027 school year. The Money Club returns to Watkins Mill Elementary School for 4th and 5th graders. The Millionaire's Club Ambassadors Program launches new at Neelsville Middle School, where students earn documented SSL hours. Both sit inside Excel Beyond the Bell.
Excel Beyond the Bell, usually shortened to EBB, is Montgomery County's free after-school system. It is a partnership between Montgomery County Recreation, MCPS, and the Collaboration Council, with Action In Montgomery also part of the elementary program. Students get a hot meal, academic support, and at the middle school level, a bus home.
That last detail matters more than it sounds. A financial literacy after school program in Montgomery County that requires a parent pickup at 5:30 p.m. excludes exactly the families it should be reaching. EBB removes that barrier before D2D ever walks in the door.
Money Club: Watkins Mill Elementary School, grades 4 and 5
The D2D Money Club returns to Watkins Mill Elementary School, 19001 Watkins Mill Road in Montgomery Village, for the 2026 to 2027 school year. It serves 4th and 5th graders through Excel Beyond the Bell Elementary. Enrollment is site-based, not countywide, and priority goes to students who need academic support. Seats are limited.
Watkins Mill families who want a seat should contact the site coordinator, Abby Landis, at 240-777-6804. That is the enrollment path. D2D does not control the roster.
The Money Club curriculum runs on D2D's F.A.S.T. Framework, which stands for FinancialField Trips, Applications, Standards, and Theory. It leads with credit before budgeting, which is backwards from how most elementary financial education is sequenced.
The reasoning is not complicated. A student who understands how interest accrues before they ever hold a credit card starts adulthood with a structural advantage. A student who learns to build a budget first has a useful skill and no defense against the product that will actually cost them money. Across more than 2,000 young people served, D2D reports a 40 percent average increase in post-assessment scores and a 92 percent program completion rate.
At the 4th and 5th grade level, the Money Club covers:
Concept | What students learn |
|---|---|
Credit basics | What a credit score is, why it exists, and how it gets built |
Interest mechanics | How interest works as the cost of borrowing, in plain language |
Borrowing and lending | The relationship between lenders, borrowers, and terms |
Financial decision-making | Applying the F.A.S.T. Framework to everyday choices |
EBB Elementary participants eat a hot meal before programming starts. The Money Club runs on school days at the Watkins Mill site.
Millionaire's Club Ambassadors: Neelsville Middle School, 15 SSL hours
The Millionaire's Club Ambassadors Program is new at Neelsville Middle School, 11700 Neelsville Church Road in Germantown, running through Excel Beyond the Bell Middle. EBB Middle operates four days a week from the end of the school day until 5:30 p.m., split into two sessions per school year of 10 to 14 weeks each.
The Millionaire's Club is not a financial literacy class. Students do not sit and receive instruction for 20 hours. They become D2D Ambassadors: trained in credit literacy, then put to work building financial education tools and delivering them to younger students.
The program runs in three phases.
Phase 1: Learn. Ambassadors complete D2D's core credit curriculum, covering credit scores, FICO, APR, interest mechanics, and credit-building strategies, translated through the F.A.S.T. Framework for their age group. They also run a community needs analysis, using local financial data to find where the credit education gap is sharpest for elementary-age youth in their own area.
Phase 2: Build. Ambassadors use professional tools to create original resources:
Tool | What students build |
|---|---|
Gemini AI | Age-appropriate scripts and narratives for elementary audiences |
Canva | Illustrated Mini Money Books on credit, interest, saving, and borrowing |
Interacy | Branching decision-tree stories where young learners navigate financial choices |
GameClass | Interactive games reinforcing credit concepts through gameplay |
Phase 3: Teach. Ambassadors deliver their own materials as live FinancialField Trip workshops to elementary students. That is the direct-service component. They also distribute their tools through public platforms and QR codes placed in libraries and community centers, which counts as advocacy service.
Students who finish earn the D2D Ambassador designation and a completion portfolio: verified hour log, work samples, reflection product, and the official certificate.
How the SSL hours actually get counted
The Millionaire's Club is documented for a minimum of 15 SSL hours, with the full program running up to 20. Every hour is logged through D2D's digital tracking system, verified by a credentialed D2D staff member, and recorded on MCPS Form 560-51, the SSL Activity Verification form, countersigned by D2D.
The hour breakdown across the three phases:
Preparation: 5 hours. Credit curriculum and community needs analysis.
Product creation: 6 hours. Building the Mini Money Books, branching stories, and games.
Direct service: 5 hours. Delivering FinancialField Trip workshops to elementary students.
Advocacy: 2 hours. Public distribution of the tools through community placement.
Reflection: 2 hours. The structured reflection MCPS requires as a core SSL component.
That structure is not decorative. MCPS requires that SSL activities include academic preparation, service action, and structured reflection, which is precisely why a program built as three phases documents cleanly and a one-off volunteer shift often does not.
MCPS students need 75 SSL hours to graduate high school and can start earning them the summer after completing Grade 5. Students who hit all 75 while still in middle school receive the Superintendent's Student Service Learning Award, which can only be earned once. For the approval and documentation mechanics in full, see our explainer on D2D's MCPS Student Service Learning approval.
Fifteen verified hours is a fifth of the graduation requirement, earned inside a program a student is already attending, with a meal and a bus home included.
Why the elementary and middle programs are built to connect
The Millionaire's Club at Neelsville and the Money Club at Watkins Mill are not two independent programs that happen to run in the same county. They are adjacent links in one chain, and the middle school program only works because the elementary program exists.
Neelsville Ambassadors build financial literacy materials for elementary-age students. Elementary students at EBB sites, Watkins Mill among them, are the intended audience for those materials.
Consider what that asks of a 7th grader. Translating compound interest into a story a 3rd grader can follow requires understanding compound interest well enough to strip it down without breaking it. That is instructional design, financial education, and peer leadership happening at once, which is the same principle behind work students actually ship rather than observe.
The elementary student on the receiving end gets credit literacy introduced years before most adults ever had the conversation. Both ends of the chain gain something the other could not deliver alone.
Frequently asked questions
How do families sign up for the Money Club at Watkins Mill?
Contact the EBB Elementary site coordinator at Watkins Mill, Abby Landis, at 240-777-6804. Enrollment runs through Excel Beyond the Bell, not through D2D. The program serves students at that school, with priority for those needing academic support, and seats are limited.
Does Excel Beyond the Bell cost anything?
Excel Beyond the Bell Elementary is a free after-school program. Participants receive a hot meal before activities begin. EBB Middle students receive meals and bus transportation home.
How many SSL hours does the Millionaire's Club provide, and when can my child start earning SSL?
The Millionaire's Club Ambassadors Program is documented for a minimum of 15 SSL hours, with the full program running up to 20. MCPS students can begin earning SSL hours the summer after completing Grade 5 and need 75 hours total to graduate high school.
Does my child have to attend Neelsville or Watkins Mill to join?
Yes. Both programs are site-based. Excel Beyond the Bell serves students enrolled at the partnering school, so a student at another school cannot enroll in the Watkins Mill or Neelsville program.
What does the EBB Middle schedule look like at Neelsville?
EBB Middle runs four days a week from the end of the school day until 5:30 p.m. The school year is split into two sessions, each lasting 10 to 14 weeks. Neelsville families can reach EBB coordinator Vanessa Blagmon at 240-740-6630.
How to get a seat this fall
If your student is at Watkins Mill Elementary, call Abby Landis at 240-777-6804 and ask about Excel Beyond the Bell Elementary. Seats are limited and priority goes to students needing academic support, so earlier is better than later.
If your student is at Neelsville Middle School, call Vanessa Blagmon at 240-740-6630 and ask about the Millionaire's Club Ambassadors Program through Excel Beyond the Bell Middle. Fifteen documented SSL hours is the practical hook, but the credit literacy is the part that lasts.
Families outside these two schools, and school or district staff who want a financial literacy after school program at their own site, can start with our answers to common questions about D2D youth programs.
