Eastern MA Financial Education Teaching Opportunities

Special Notice for EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS                          

 

Adult Financial Education Teaching Opportunities

 

 

Several opportunities for volunteer instructors to expand or sharpen their teaching skills will be provided by two separate series of basic financial education classes slated to begin in April or May. (Please feel free to share this notice with co-workers or colleagues so that the opportunity to participate in either of these transformative programs is available to as many people as possible.)

 

 

 

I. Pondville Correctional Center, a MA Department of Corrections minimum security pre-release facility in Norfolk, wants to build on the very successful Pilot project conducted there over nine weeks last Fall.

  

The students in these classes are highly motivated inmates nearing the end of their sentences and preparing for successful reentry. These classes will most likely be conducted on weekday afternoons for approximately 15 students.  FDIC and Pondville will conduct an orientation session with the team of instructors to organize the classes and teaching assignments.

 

If you are interested in exploring the opportunity to participate in the second round of classes at Pondville, please contact Paul Horwitz (phorwitz@fdic.gov).

 

 

II. U.S. Probation Office in Boston is planning classes for its clients and has provided the project synopsis, below. Expressions of interest should be directed to this project’s point of contact, Laura Roffo, whose email address and phone number appear in the last paragraph:  

The U.S. Probation Office, Boston, is implementing a Financial Literacy Program for selected individuals who are living in the community and supervised by our office. We would like to kick off the first 6-week session in May of this year (and hope to hold another session in the fall). We envision the program targeting about 10-15 participants at a time, some of whom will have court-ordered financial obligations (fines, restitution), and all of whom could benefit from basic financial education.

We are seeking volunteers who are interested in facilitating one or more of the classes. We will have one member of the Probation Office overseeing the program, to provide continuity. We will also have several staff members trained and attending various classes, in order to help facilitate, although the goal is to have the experts from the community present the substantive material, at least initially. The program will consist of one class per week. Classes will likely be held in the early evening, with each session allotted up to 1.5 hours. Sessions will be held at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, which is easily accessible by train (South Station) and car (with several nearby parking lots). The Probation Office may be able to reimburse volunteers for some transportation expenses.  

The program will include the following sessions/topics:

Week 1:        Banking System Overview
               
Week 2:         Budgeting (Needs versus Wants, Responsibilities, and Obligations) Savings/Asset Building

Week 3:        Checking/Transaction Accounts

Week 4:        Credit I (Granting/Scores/Repair)

Week 5:        Credit II (Credit Cards and Installment Loans)

Week 6:        Family Financial Issues Income and Taxation

The goal is to utilize the FDIC's Money Smart program as the starting point/framework for each topic, with individual presenters building on the program with their own experience/resources. Also, for some topics, it would be ideal to build in some time for individual instruction/assistance (credit, taxation, etc.). We will be able to run participants' credit reports in advance of the sessions, and participants will have access to a computer for follow-up work, if needed. We also plan to host a graduation for participants upon completion of the program.

Notably, because the participants are supervised by our office for several years, on average, and because they have regular financial reporting requirements, there will be a number of ways in which we can assess their progress after completion of the program.

Anyone interested in participating in this program should contact Supervising U.S. Probation Officer Laura Roffo at Laura_Roffo@map.uscourts.gov or (617) 748-4659. 

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