2007 TWF Community Grant Awards
Financial Literacy: Teaching Women and Girls to Fish
To become economically self-reliant, a woman needs to learn how to manage her finances, regardless of her socio-economic status. If a girl acquires the basic principles of financial management, chances are she will develop habits necessary to manage her resources effectively as an adult.
Grant Awards: In the tradition of its history of finding innovative solutions to complex issues, The Women’s Fund used part of its available grant dollars to fund a forum/consortium that could serve as a resource to organizations and individuals seeking information about best practices and resources for Financial Literacy specific to the needs of women and girls.
Invited Proposal
$10,000 to Gateway to develop and produce a forum to share best practices principles and a web-based consortium. The virtual consortium links interested consumers with financial literacy resources specifically for women and girls. The consortium is nested in the larger collaborative group, the Alabama Asset Building Coalition. The infrastructure will be the touchstone for The Women’s Fund’s continuing grant focus on Financial Literacy.
Competitive Grants
Regions Financial Corporation Partnership grants:
Regions Financial Corporation doubled TWF’s initial grant award on two grants for a total of $12,500 in our Named Grant Partner Program. Regions selected:
$10,000 to Girls Inc. to continue implementation of its highly regarded national program: Smart Girls Are Money Wise. This successive, age appropriate curriculum for various age groups (6-8 yrs, 9-11 yrs, 12-14 yrs, and 15-18 yrs) is designed to improve participants’ knowledge about relevant economics as a life skill and simultaneously introduces girls to career options in the financial arena.
$15,000 to Gateway to address issues faced by women 50 years and older. Gateway is offering a two-tiered Financial Literacy program for women. The first tier adapts FDIC’s MoneySmart curriculum to present a six-hour course on basic elements of financial management. The second tier features stand-alone modules covering topics such as selecting a financial advisor, which will be presented throughout the community.
Other Competitive Grants:
$10,000 to The Central Alabama Women’s Business Center & Birmingham Business Resource Center to partner on the Financial Business Success Project. To address the needs of female small-business owners, the project focuses on topics specific to business ownership, but also includes a training component targeting basic financial concerns such as credit, savings, and budgeting. In addition, more complex issues of retirement and estate planning are addressed. Four programs will be offered to female clients of both organizations: Fast Trac, New Venture; Fast Trac, Growth Venture; MoneySmart; and Financial Empowerment Roundtables.
$8,000 to Shelby County Schools for Money Talks, which will be a part of the existing Toyota Family Literacy Program in three Shelby County elementary schools. TFLP targets the mothers of currently enrolled K-3 ESL (English as a Second Language) students. Shelby County schools have the highest number of English Language Learners of any school system in Alabama. Money Talks will introduce financial literacy as an integral part of the TFLP parent education component. Once monthly a speaker or program will be presented on financial literacy. Information will be disseminated on a specific and explicit basis and will follow each presentation with lessons on math concepts. Mothers will learn math concepts and be better prepared to help their children with math homework. Topics will include how to plan a family budget, open and manage a checking account, make a savings plan, and set realistic financial goals.
$5,000 to Family Guidance Center to continue Money Talks. Mothers involved with the program participate in small groups using the Money Smart curriculum. The class participants will be assessed for their ability to manage their finances effectively. Women who need more intensive work will be encouraged to continue services at no cost to them with the Family Advocacy Program. It employs a case management model to move women toward economic self-sufficiency.
$5,000 to Lifeline Village to continue implementing its financial literacy curriculum for residents who need to learn basic financial management skills as part of their goal to live independently and successfully following their babies’ births. Budgeting, checkbook management, and other basic principles are embedded in the independent living skills counseling and tailored to each resident’s individual need.
$5,000 to Need A Chance, Inc. for its Just A Jiffy (A Journey in Financial Freedom for YOU!). The program is an extension of the Jefferson County Housing Authority Family Self Sufficiency Program. It targets women and young women housed though JCHA public housing and Section 8 programs and the community at large. Topics include basic living skills, comparative shopping, menu planning, wise spending, credit counseling, setting up a checking and savings account, budgeting, basic maintenance and home repair, and the new landlord/tenant law and responsibilities regarding fair housing issues.
$5,000 to Pathways to partner with the North Alabama Chapter of the Financial Planners Association to develop a financial literacy curriculum for women and children in its shelters, transitional housing, and rapid housing programs. This program provides the necessary tools of everyday budgeting, saving, and insurance. It provides simple techniques and steps that are easy to follow after participants have left Pathways. This is a more in-depth version of the budgeting support guests already receive from social workers. The children’s program is essential to the success of the women’s program, not only for childcare, but to impact a change that will shape their financial future.
Technical Assistance Grants
$1,000 to each of twelve organizations, which qualified for technical assistance grants. To be qualified, organizations had to: meet all grant criteria, recognize incorporating financial literacy components is essential to women’s and girls’ economic self-reliance, desire to adopt high quality curriculums,attend the financial literacy program.
