MoneyWi$e travels to Texas

Consumer Action’s Outreach and Training Team traveled to the Lone Star State in June to provide financial literacy training to community-based organizations and bankers. The team conducted three full day trainings in Dallas and San Antonio on timely topics such as establishing good credit, rebuilding credit and money management. The team also conducted a half-day training at Capital One’s campus in Plano, TX.

The MoneyWi$e program is jointly sponsored by Consumer Action and Capital One.

At the Dallas regional meeting for community group staff, Capital One’s Community Affairs Team Member Bert Davis kicked off the day with a session on teaching adults. Davis provided both scientific and anecdotal examples of how to teach adults. Davis has extensive experience training bankers and teaching adults during his tenure with Capital One.

Community Outreach Manager Linda Williams led the Rebuilding Good Credit session. Williams used the Rebuilding Credit module as a segue into a group activity that focuses trainees on a case study of a fictional client, Sally Walker. The Sally Walker case study covers elements of both the Rebuilding Credit and Money Management modules. After the teams presented their case management plans to the rest of the group, Williams went through the Money Management training slides and helped participants identify areas that should be considered in developing Sally’s case management plan. Williams also covered the importance of ordering an individual specialty consumer reports.

Williams and Community Outreach Manager Nelson Santiago then led the Teach Back session. This portion of the training had participants break into groups, and select from one of six modules to review and prepare a presentation for the full group. The module choices were: Banking Basics,Micro Business Basics, Rebuilding Good Credit, Senior Scams, Saving to Build Wealth and ID Theft and Account Fraud. Each team was given a condensed version of a module to study and then develop a way to present the materials to the rest of the group. The purpose of the exercise was not to put anyone in the hot seat, but rather to demonstrate how trainers can grasp the MoneyWi$e materials quickly and effectively deliver the materials to their target audiences. After each presentation, the group leaders were able to discuss how they felt presenting, talk about any defining moment they may have had, and receive constructive criticism from the general audience, the Consumer Action Team and Bert Davis of Capital One.

In Plano, Consumer Action trained 42 Capital One bankers. For some of the bankers, it was their first time being trained using the renowned MoneyWi$e Financial Education program and several expressed interest in getting out into the community to teach the curriculum. Caitlen Hamilton of the Capital One Community Affairs Team was at the training and discussed volunteer opportunities for participants.

Williams lead a session on How Adults Learn, helping them to understand the motivations behind adult learning.

In San Antonio, Consumer Action trained 42 community-based organization staff on the first day and 15 bankers on the second day. The San Antonio regional meeting and banker training followed similar formats with a combination of lecture and group exercises. However, no two trainings are exactly alike. Bert Davis was on hand to present the Teaching Adults session at both San Antonio meetings. Patrick Ahr and Jordana Barton gave presentations on their experience as bankers implementing the MoneyWi$e curriculum in Capital One’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) target markets. Jordana Barton also made a presentation to bankers on CRA credits on what the target markets are and how to maximize the relationships.