The United Way of Washtenaw County has been awarded a $199,000 grant from the PNC Foundation to teach area children lessons in spending, sharing and saving and equip parents to reinforce the lessons at home, according to a news release.

PNC provided the funding in support of Grow Up Great, its bilingual program in early childhood education.

The grant from the PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., will allow the United Way of Washtenaw County to offer expert consultation, teacher training, support, classroom instruction, creative parent-child activities, broad-reaching community events, incentives and outcome evaluation, the release said.

“Through this grant from PNC, we can reach children in Washtenaw County at an early age and help establish smart habits that will last a lifetime,” Sandra R. Rupp, president of United Way of Washtenaw County, said in a statement.

The United Way of Washtenaw County will provide professional development for teachers to reach 40 preschools, 600 children and more than 1,000 family members about the importance of good financial health, according to the release.

The instruction will be based on the lessons included in the “For Me, for You, for Later: First Steps to Spending, Sharing and Saving,” multi-media bilingual financial education activity kit that Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind "Sesame Street," created for PNC. The library also will distribute the “For Me, for You, for Later” financial education kits to parents and families, the release said.

For more information on the Group Up Great initiative, visit www.pncgrowupgreat.com.