Professional Development: New Directions for Texas

Money Smart Fits the Bill
for Literacy Programs: It's FREE

A few years ago, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) talked with people from financial institutions and state- and community-based organizations who were concerned about predatory lending practices. The talks took place at a series of workshops across the country. From them, the FDIC learned that banks and other organizations needed information about financial services they could use to educate people in their communities, particularly people with little or no banking experience. To meet the needs expressed during the workshops, the FDIC released Money Smart, An Adult Education Program, in June 2001. A brochure about Money Smart describes the product as "a training program to help adults outside the financial mainstream enhance their money skills and create positive banking relationships."

"More than 20,000 organizations have ordered Money Smart, and it can be found in all 50 states plus the U.S. territories," says Valerie J. Williams, FDIC community affairs officer at the New York Regional Office. "We're really proud of Money Smart."

One of the ProLiteracy affiliates that has used Money Smart is the Goshen Adult Literacy Program (Ind.). In cooperation with Goshen community Bank and Lake City Bank, the program offered a free 10-week banking literacy seminar. The seminar was offered in English and Spanish versions.

"1 would recommend that anyone in the literacy field get the Money Smart information from the FDIC," says Judie Schafer, the literacy program's director. "The materials include promotional flyers, a take-home guide for students, overhead transparencies for teaching classes - just about anything one would need to present a course on banking and financial literacy. Just having it on hand as a resource for teachers to use has proven to be helpful."

Here's how Money Smart is being used by ProLiteracy affiliates in Arizona. The state Department of Education is working with the FDIC to implement a financial literacy program for students served by adult literacy programs that receive state funding. William Hart, director of program improvement in the Division of Adult and Family Literacy, is coordinating the training of practitioners. He expects that "master teachers" in each of the 36 state-supported programs will be trained by September 2003. Many of the programs are ProLiteracy affiliates.

"We learned to use the materials in the context of our programs, " says Barbara Sutton, executive director for the Yuma Reading Council. Before the training to use Money Smart, Sutton's council did some work in the area of financial literacy on an as-needed basis. "Now we'll be doing it formally," she says. "Financial literacy is becoming a big piece of the picture here in Arizona."

The Money Smart training program includes 10 stand-alone, instructor-led modules covering basic financial topics. The curriculum was developed by three FDIC staff people for use by banks, educational institutions, and others interested in educating people about money management. It is not intended to replace financial education programs conducted by any educational or financial institution. It is intended to fit into such programs.

Money Smart is available from the FDlC in English, Spanish, and Chinese and is free of charge to the user. A Korean version will be available later this year, and a Vietnamese version will come out next year. To encourage wide dissemination, the curriculum is designed to be easily reproduced and has no copyright restrictions, Williams says.

Each Money Smart module comes with a scripted instructor's guide, a take-home guide for participants, and a sample promotional flier.

The flyer can be used to promote Money Smart classes in the local community. The script in the instructor's guide is for teachers and tutors who would like to have that additional support. The take-home materials are written at a sixth-grade reading level, and they may have to be adjusted for use by students reading at lower levels. Each Money Smart program module takes about an hour of class time, although some, such as the module covering checking accounts, are longer.

Local programs can mix and match Money Smart materials. For example, the Garment Industry Development Corporation in New York City uses the materials in its English-as-a-second-language classes for garment workers whose first language is Chinese. The Money Smart classes are conducted in English, Williams says, but the take-home booklet that accompanies each module is in Chinese to provide students with additional reinforcement.

That kind of flexibility is exactly why Williams is proud of Money Smart. "It's easy to use and comprehensive," she says.

Money Smart is available to Texas educators from TCALL's Clearinghouse library. Call 1-800-441-READ.