MoneyWi$e 2012 mini-grants recipients announced

Nine community organizations that attended MoneyWi$e trainings in Texas and Louisiana or used MoneyWi$e materials in their communities have been awarded mini-grants by Consumer Action and Capital One to support financial empowerment in diverse communities. Consumer Action will award further mini-grants later this year. The agencies selected have demonstrated effective use of the Consumer Action-Capital One MoneyWi$e curricula as part of innovative outreach programs to diverse groups, including teenagers, immigrant victims of domestic violence and people with disabilities.

From face-to-face counseling sessions to group workshops, these organizations will use MoneyWi$e materials to educate consumers about personal finance basics, including basic banking, credit and budgeting, to help them save and plan for short- and long-term financial goals.

This year, the 2012 Consumer Action/Capital One MoneyWi$e mini-grant recipients are:

• Azteca Economic Development and Preservation Corporation (AEDPC), Laredo, Texas. Using the MoneyWi$e modules Banking Basics, Micro Business and Improve Your Credit, AEDPC will teach banking basics to unbanked and underbanked consumers in the Laredo area. Consumers will receive help in opening low-cost savings or checking accounts with local banks or credit unions.
• Advocacy Resource Center for Housing (ARCH), McAllen, Texas. Through a collaboration with Workforce Solutions and a local Capital One Bank branch, ARCH will offer training sessions using the MoneyWi$e curricula and assist clients with budgeting, obtaining and interpreting credit reports, establishing bank accounts and saving regularly.
• Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas. In collaboration with the San Antonio Housing Authority, the organization will educate subsidized housing residents using MoneyWi$e banking, money management and credit curricula. Clients will receive assistance in developing spending plans, obtaining copies of their credit reports and improving credit scores by better managing and repaying debts.
• Easter Seals Central Texas (ESCT), Austin, Texas. The local Easter Seals chapter will provide education to potential homebuyers in its Texas Home of Your Own program using the MoneyWi$e credit and homeownership modules. Financial literacy classes will be offered to the organization’s Employment Service Program participants using the MoneyWi$e banking, money management, savings and homeownership modules. Trainees in its Paid Job Training program will have the opportunity to attend a basic banking training and receive incentives to open bank accounts.
• Goodwill Industries of Central East Texas (GWICET), Lufkin, Texas. The organization will provide education and financial literacy training to low-income community members using MoneyWi$e curricula and other supplemental materials. Participants that successfully complete the financial literacy training will be offered individualized financial coaching, help in opening savings accounts and encouragement to succeed in achieving realistic savings goals.
• Louisiana State University AgCenter, Covington, Louisiana. The AgCenter will use a train-the-trainer model to help Louisiana State University educate youth, provide MoneyWi$e financial education sessions for students and reinforce learning through a “real-life” simulation to increase the awareness of financial literacy, money management, banking basics, ID theft and account fraud.
• Christian Women’s/Men’s Job Corps of Port Arthur, Port Arthur, Texas. Through its New Beginnings program, the organization will provide financial literacy education to low-income consumers in parts of Jefferson County using MoneyWi$e and other supplemental materials; help clients repair and maintain good credit ratings; and offer one-on-one mentoring to establish savings goals and budget action plans. The program will employ speakers from local financial institutions and partner with them to offer incentives to local unbanked residents to open accounts. The program has obtained meeting space through collaboration with a local college and will draw clients through a partnership with Jefferson County courts.
• Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of Ouachita, Inc., Monroe, Louisiana. The project will incorporate financial literacy education into a job training curriculum at OIC facilities in Dunlop and Richwood, Louisiana. Using the MoneyWi$e curriculum, the project will train clients on setting financial goals, creating a workable budget, improving credit, establishing a savings or other bank account and obtaining a copy of their credit reports from the three national credit reporting bureaus.
• Oficina Legal del Pueblo Unido (South Texas Civil Rights Project), Alamo, Texas. The organization will help immigrant survivors of domestic violence who want to live independently from their abusive spouses to build the financial knowledge and skills that will allow them to establish successful independent lives. The group will leverage its Promotoras program to train former clients to become grassroots advocates and provide education, guidance and referral services to other immigrant victims of domestic violence. Clients will be trained on basic banking, budgeting, savings and, if appropriate and desired, homeownership sustainability.

“We are excited to watch the progress of the innovative projects funded by MoneyWi$e this year,” said Consumer Action Executive Director Ken McEldowney. “We expect that they’ll have significant financial empowerment impact in their communities.”