In the six months since we announced the release of Your Money, Your Goals: A Financial Empowerment Toolkit for Social Services Programs, organizations across the country have been at work equipping frontline social services staff to use its information and tools to help their clients learn financial decision-making skills. This comprehensive guide to empowered financial decision-making covers topics like budgeting daily expenses, managing debt, and avoiding financial tricks and traps.
Since last July, the five organizations that joined us in training social services staff have trained over 1,000 frontline social services staff to use the toolkit to help the people they serve take steps to reach their financial goals.
In Los Angeles County alone, over 300 Department of Public Social Services staff have already completed the training, and the NACHC is wrapping up training of the 500 AmeriCorps members who serve patients in local community health centers.
Today, we are pleased to announce that five more organizations are joining the CFPB in this effort. These national and local organizations from across the country include nonprofits, government agencies, and a tribal entity.
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Office of Regional Operations will train program agencies through its regional offices. The trainings will support ACF special initiatives focused on issues such as early childhood development, anti-human trafficking, family strengthening, healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood programs, and their Assets for Independence program.
- The Minnesota Financial Literacy Interagency Work Group, which is led by the Minnesota Department of Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman, is delivering toolkit training through its ten state agency partners, the University of Minnesota Extension, and the state credit union network.
- The Sault Saint Marie Tribe of the Chippewa Indians, located in northern Michigan, will train tribal and local social services teams to use the toolkit and then seek opportunities to share their new knowledge with other state, regional and national tribal entities.
- The District of Columbia’s Department of Human Services, with the support of the District’s Bank on DC program, is training both public and private social services staff who work with needy families to help them achieve self-sufficiency.
- United Way Worldwide is training local affiliates to provide the training to United Way member agency staff in 22 states.
The ten organizations that are participating in this initiative have set a collective goal of training 5,000 frontline staff. Through their work with clients and patients, they will share basic information and tools on setting financial goals, saving for emergencies, tracking and managing income and spending, budgeting, credit, debt, and using consumer financial products and services. They will also be equipped to refer consumers to certified credit and debt counselors and other community resources when they require specialized assistance.
Putting the toolkit to use in your community
If you’re interested in putting Your Money, Your Goals to work in your community, check out the toolkit and training materials. The materials are available in English and Spanish and you can get started with the train-the-trainer video.
