In the Community - Financial Outreach Financial Backpack The Financial Backpack outreach program teaches personal financial management skills to high school students and young adults. The committee designs and runs financial literacy seminars aimed at providing students with practical financial knowledge on topics such as Paying for College, Banking Basics, Budgeting, Using Credit Cards and Debit Cards appropriately, Saving and Investing, Understanding Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds, Careers in Finance. Exciting Volunteer Opportunity: Be a Part of Something New! The HSBC Foundation has given the FWA a generous grant of $900,000 to fund a robust and expanded five-year program for Financial Backpack. The Committee is busy gearing up for it's second year of this exciting program and is now seeking FWA volunteers to assist at their fall seminars. We are meeting in early September. As soon as we set up the dates for the training program, we can then fill in more information. Please contact Lindsay Starr, at lindsaystarr1@yahoo.com if you are interested in volunteering. Financial Literacy The FWA in partnership with The Bank of America and the United Way of New York City presents an eight-week financial literacy seminar for people with minimal financial education who find their life choices severely limited. The goal is to foster economic self-sufficiency by providing participants with the necessary tools for basic money management. The program commenced in the Spring of 2005. It has been expanded this year to include two sessions, one in the Spring and another in the Fall. Both are being held at The University Settlement Society of New York which is located on the lower east side. Each session graduates twenty participants and includes the following topics: Each week we discuss a different topic. They include: Cash Flow and Budgeting Using Credit Cards and Fringe Financial Products Getting Out of Debt Organizing Financial Documents Understanding Financial Organizations Discussing Tax Issues Investing to Fund Goals Some features of the program that make it ground-breaking are: FWA members conduct each session. Our membership of financial planners and specialists in insurance, taxes, investments and education make us uniquely qualified to share knowledge about financial skills. Each session is taught, in part, by a peer trainer. This spokespeMarch 7, 2013which empowers the group to attain success. A peer administrator handles the multitude of details that ensures each session runs smoothly. The homework is available in English, Spanish and Chinese to reinforce the lessons of the week and make it easy to understand. Students with particular legal, financial and tax problems are referred to an FWA expert for assistance in resolving the issue. This years program builds upon the success of last year. We hope to continue expanding the program each year, giving more FWA members the opportunity to teach and many deserving participants, in multiple cities, the opportunity to learn. Need more information? For more information about Financial Backpack, visit the Financial Backpack Committee page. For more information about Financial Literary, visit the Financial Literacy Committee page. Top
Last updated:   March 7, 2013