Delivering Effective Financial Education for AFI Projects

Focus:

The call focused on issues involved in providing strong financial education to AFI participants and ways to assess the effectiveness of curricula, partners, and delivery modes.

Key Points:

• Financial education needs to be tailored to the specific group served with respect to many variables, including age, culture, personal values, literacy level, as well as other factors.
• There are numerous “off the shelf” curricula already available, including those already designed for particular subgroups; however, any curriculum will have to be adapted somewhat for a specific project’s context.
• There are assessment templates in place and accessible from AFI Projects and from other sources that may be appropriate or adaptable according to local circumstances; and there are a few examples of research on the effects of financial education on behavioral changes.

Presenters:

• James Gatz, Manager, Assets for Independence Program, Office of Community Services
• Jacqueline Ward, Financial Awareness Program Coordinator, Wisconsin Women's Business Corporation (WWBIC)
• Emily Waterbury, IDA Program Manager, San Francisco, Earned Assets Resource Network (EARN)

• Anne Yeoman, Assets for Independence Resource Center

Resources:

• Financial Education EARN San Francisco (.pdf 202KB)
• Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative IDAs (.pdf 672KB)
• Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Facts (.pdf 102KB)
• Resources for Effective Financial Education in AFI Projects (.pdf 115KB) (.doc 160KB)

For more information on this topic, please contact the Assets for Independence Resource Center: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/assetbuilding; info@idaresources.org; 1-866-778-6037.