April 6, 2009

"Lauren" a mother in her mid-30s and a recent program participant in Heartland Alliance's financial literacy training class, lists going back to college as one of her five year goals. Her story is a familiar one to many in the course: she works full-time in an administrative office, earning just enough to cover rent and expenses for herself and teenage son, but she has nothing left over.

When roommates Darlene and Sybil, also participants in a Heartland Alliance financial literacy class, stopped off at the fabric store on the way home from their first financial literacy training class offered by Heartland Alliance, they did something extraordinary: they didn't buy anything.

Program participants in the financial literacy training course, like Lauren, Darlene, and Sybil, learn how to open a checking account, manage a budget, save for a child's college fund, or get out of debt. The course is an example of an anti-poverty strategy that aims to offer economic stability to current and future generations by helping people accumulate and preserve long-term assets such as a home, a college education, a small business, retirement savings, and other investments.

"You can have four years of high school, four years of college, and still know very little about finance," remarks Sybil.

Research indicates that people who have financial education and opportunities to save for the future are more economically stable, can create more opportunities for themselves and their family, and can pass these skills and assets on to the next generation.

What can you do?

• Learn more about Children's Savings Accounts!
  Imagine if every child in Illinois grew up knowing she or he had a nest egg of savings to go to college, buy a home or start a small business? The Children's Savings Account Act would offer every child in Illinois a chance to build a more secure financial future!
  
• Watch a video about Yolanda's success with financial literacy training
  
• Read more about the Illinois Asset Building Group, a project of Heartland Alliance
  
• Read more about our Family Self-Sufficiency program. FSS is a financial education program that helps residents of Chicago's public housing build savings and financial assets

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