A better life for self and children…

Given this economy, agencies are seeing an increase in enrollees in their financial education classes – especially people who are low income. So, how do communities meet the increased demand due to these economic times? At an over-capacity workshop for trainers of community-based financial education, well-respected and nationally known facilitator Inger Giuffrida attempted to answer this question this week, by offering practical tools for both designing and measuring programs that make a tangible difference in people’s lives. United Way hosted this training, in partnership with the Midas Collaborative and with sponsorship from the Assets for Independence Resource Center, a federal resource for matched savings programs. Gregory Mills of Abt Associates also presented updated research on matched savings program, with financial education as an integrated component. Last year, United Way, with Bank of America sponsorship, launched a web-based toolkit as a resource for community based providers of financial education (www.financialedtoolkit.org). This “train-the-trainer” workshop was the next step to increasing the quality and consistency of financial education to build family financial stability. During the training, one participant summed it up beautifully: "people come to our classes," the participant said, "to create a better life for self and children."