Moneywi$e helps teach families how to survive economic tsunami

Over 38 participants from a diverse group of community based organizations in Washington D.C. joined 25 members of Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) on October 23, 2008, to learn how to use Consumer Action’s Money Wi$e to teach struggling families to survive during these turbulent times. Consumer Action’s Community Outreach Manager, Linda Williams hit the ground running with the MoneyWi$e Savings to Build Wealth Module. She used Can The Poor Be Taught To Save activity to focus attention on savings, barriers to saving and ways in which participants can motivate their clients to save. Stressing to advocates that their mantra during these turbulent times should be “Save Baby Save,” Williams highlighted savings tips such as cutting banking costs, which can be utilized by all consumers. During the Credit and Rebuilding segment Williams pointed out that now is the time to protect ones’ credit at all cost. Williams counseled that if you have bad or damaged credit, now is the time to rebuild. She facilitated an interactive discussion on why consumers need credit; the cost of credit and steps consumers can take to rebuild damaged credit. Using the Basic Banking module, Williams suggested that opening a bank account is a first step in establishing or reestablishing credit. Selecting a bank or credit union, opening an account and learning how to avoid bank fees is a giant step towards good money management. After introducing five Money Wi$e modules to participants, Williams ended the training by challenging everyone to take action by increasing financial literacy education in the communities they serve. Although this is a daunting task during these times, Williams said that it is imperative that we not only teach our clients to save, but that we educate them so they can avoid predatory lending traps, excessive fees and misuse of credit. The response to the training was overwhelming. This is what Latese Barksdale of OIC said about the training: The Opportunities Industrialization Center OIC/DC provides job training and placement to low-income and disadvantaged youth and adults. A big part of earning money is understanding how to properly manage your finances, so that your money can work for you. In an effort to provide information about this situation OIC/DC decided to host a train-the-trainer workshop to educate and train community-based organizations on the importance of money management with the understanding that they would disseminate this information to their clients to enlighten and empower them about financial literacy. The training was well attended and all the participants stated that the materials were very informative and that they enjoyed the trainer. Some organizations stated that they plan to incorporate the MoneyWi$e materials/modules into their programs. Several of the them are considering the possibility of hosting training at their site. OIC/DC believes that the information received from the training will truly benefit the consumers served by the organizations in attendance.