The next time you’re looking for financial tips, forget about Warren Buffett or Jeff Bezos. Try Elmo, Cookie Monster and Big Bird.

That’s because the iconic Sesame Street characters are part of a program to bring financial smarts to kids around the world. Developed by Sesame Workshop and the MetLife Foundation, the program uses videos, comics, games and activities to make money seem … well, a little less boring, and a little more meaningful to kids’ daily lives.

MetLife Foundation focuses on improving the financial health of low-income people. And that can be done in many different ways, including by making a social impact in local communities. Thanks to MetLife volunteers, numerous nonprofit organizations have gained invaluable help and improved their futures – without spending a dollar.

A safe place to be smart

Antonio Marcos Tavares Barbosa has been working as the Industrial Director of the Kitambar ceramic factory for over 30 years. In 2007, after decades of making bricks, blocks and tiles for the local Brazilian economy, Barbosa and his team of 42 employees decided to run their factory on an unusual concoction of plants for energy, including algaroba, cashew tree residues and coconut husk. These plants are all by-products of renewable local crops that would normally be thrown away with no productive use.

If you want to see the sort of miraculous comeback Mother Nature can make with the right assist, look no further than the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Here, along the Mississippi River, a partnership between forward-thinking investors and landowners is not only bringing a vast, robust ecosystem of trees, plants and wildlife back from the brink, but also creating revenue for locals and stimulating the local economy.

And these efforts come not a moment too soon.