Day of Action Photo's

      

Money management class helps area residents, wealthy or not

By Wayne Grant

VOLUSIA COUNTY - When Ormond Beach resident Liz Christensen recently attended a United Way money management class and learned how to save for a rainy day, she did not know there was an actual rainy day - or in this case, rainy week - coming to put her lessons to good use.

Because of what she learned in the class, she had saved enough money to pay the deductible on her insurance to cover water damage to her car from the floods.

"It could have been a disaster," she said.

As part of "Day of Action," on June 20, the United Way is offering a special edition of the Money Smart classes in Daytona Beach and Deltona. Another session is scheduled for Deltona on June 27.

The tough economic times make the classes even more important, said Loretta Wilary of the United Way.

"We teach people how to earn, keep and save money, and achieve family financial stability," she said.

People learn how to pay down debt, use credit wisely and save for emergencies in the class, Ms. Wilary said.

Other topics include budgeting, understanding predatory lending, getting free credit reports, managing bank accounts, borrowing money, and handy tips such as how much you end up paying when you buy with "no money down."

Ms. Christensen said she went from being a victim to being proactive after taking the class, because she was able to watch out for herself financially.

Carol Blackman of Ormond Beach said she learned that it's not how much money you earn that's important - it's how you spend it.

"I think everybody should take the class," she said. "There were people in the class who make a lot of money and people who live paycheck to paycheck."

"It makes you more aware of what you're doing with your money and if you have enough saved," she said.

Money Smart is an FDIC program. The agency provides the materials and training for the volunteer teachers.

Those interested in learning how to better manage their money can contact Ms. Wilary at the United Way at (386) 253-0563, Ext. 236 for more information.

If there isn't room in a class on June 20, she'll discuss other upcoming opportunities with the caller, she said.

Volunteers Help Families Build Assets
Campaign for Working Families Volunteers Surpass Last Year Numbers

[May 8, 2009] — On Tuesday, May 5th, the Campaign for Working Families recognized 118 volunteers for their enormous efforts helping low-to-moderate income workers keep and save more of their hard-earned money. Key community partners like the IRS, Federal Reserve Bank, United Way of Volusia-Flagler, Center for Business Excellence and Community Foundation of East Central Florida and others were on hand to show their appreciation for the wonderful job the volunteers did throughout the last year.

“ This year volunteers supported the Volusia and Flagler Community by providing free tax preparation and financial education classes. Volunteers helped free tax preparation clients receive a total of over $3 million in refunds while saving over $326,000 in tax preparation fees. In both Flagler and Volusia counties the volunteers manned 11 free tax preparation sites during tax season. Free financial education classes helped 116 people learn how to budget, manage money and get out of debt. In addition 33 clients who attended financial education classes reported savings of $22,354 in a six month time period from lessons they had learned. In a year that has been extremely difficult for families due to economic down turn, these types of accomplishments affect not only the clients served but also our community. Campaign for Working Families’ volunteers put in a total of 7,955 hours in service to the community this year to make this possible, stated Nita Schmellick, President of Community Foundation of East Central Florida and Campaign Partner. “Their dedication and concern for others was truly evident and had a huge economic development impact on our community.”

 

May 17, 2009

Program helps low-income folks become homeowners

"I wish they'd have a Ferris wheel at my house and I want a big house with stairs," he said, making noises as his hand inched in the air, describing how high the stairs would go. "I want planets and glow-in-the-dark stars (stickers on the ceiling)."

The idea of any house seemed as realistic as one with a Ferris wheel for Heather Bunch, 23, who now shares a bedroom with her son in a small Holly Hill transitional housing unit at Family Renew Community. But those dreams don't seem so farfetched now that they're in a new local program to help low-income, working individuals and families get a down payment for their own homes.

Through a partnership with the federal government, local United Way, private donations and area agencies, about 64 families could become homeowners -- some as early as next summer.

But they'll have to work for it. The program -- intended as a hand up, not a hand out -- teaches people not only how to save toward their home but makes them prove they can maintain a budget. Experts say the Assets for Independence program benefits not only the person who gets into stable housing, but sparks the economy. The homeowner will pay property taxes, which helps police, fire and other municipal needs, officials said. It also relates to getting services for the new home from area businesses and possibly occupying a foreclosed home.

"You have a real economic multiplier," said Ray Salazar, executive director of the United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties, whose Community Foundation dedicated money to start the program. "(The new homeowner) becomes a small economic engine that produces wealth and opportunity for other people."

Here's how the program works: The prospective homebuyer steadily saves up to $2,000 and attends about 10 classes, such as budgeting, savings, household management and credit repair.

In return, they'll get another $4,000 toward the purchase of a house -- $2,000 from the Community Foundation and $2,000 from the federal government.

"The whole program is teaching them the habit of being successful in their home," said Renee Gay, project director for the United Way, which is administering the $300,000 program. "We don't want to put people in a home that they can't keep and will be foreclosed upon."

More than 6,000 people nationally have been helped through the Assets for Independence program with buying a home since starting in 1999, according to government reports. This is the first attempt at the program locally, though other agencies have been doing it statewide.

The first local participants -- clients from Family Renew Community, the Neighborhood Center of West Volusia and Flagler Habitat for Humanity -- could get into a home by next summer.

The United Way and partner agencies will work with other housing agencies to help participants secure homes, including foreclosed homes, and obtain other government funds to receive low mortgages. A program oversight committee includes several bankers and real estate agents to help in the effort, though it will be up to the families to set up their own accounts.

Mark Soskin, associate professor of economics at the University of Central Florida Daytona Beach campus, said there are a lot of foreclosed homes that are lowering property values, and this program "will help soak up some of the housing stock."

The Community Foundation will soon start a fundraising drive in hopes of continually helping more families.

Nationally, studies show some communities that have already started the federal program struggle to raise non-federal funds and assist participants in meeting their savings goals.

Clients of Flagler Habitat won't have to save $2,000 since those Habitat homes only require a $500 down payment in addition to volunteering and attending a training program. Clients will only need to save one-third of the $500 and the new program will pay the remainder of the $500. For some of the 14 waiting to get into a Flagler Habitat home, $500 is a "sizable amount" to save considering some are living in "deplorable housing" such as "trailers falling down around them," executive director Lindsay Elliott said.

For Heather Bunch, the new program would mean finally being on her own with no help. She previously lived with her ex-husband and her in-laws in New Smyrna Beach. She also was in a Serenity House drug treatment program for a year while relatives cared for her son.

But her life with her son has been back on track after being at Family Renew Community for a year, officials said. She's had a stable job for two years as a cashier at a restaurant and is going to Daytona State College and hopes to become a newspaper or magazine writer. She's already been saving about $150 every other week.

"I do not spend money on anything I don't need," she said of her saving strategy.

It helps having her rent and utilities paid by Family Renew, but she also saves by shopping at thrift stores, not eating out and holding off on getting a car by taking buses.

"My dream is just to have a place I can call home and that my son can grow up in," Bunch said.

Brenda Voss, 41, and her husband, Luke Bodigon, 44, have similar dreams. They've been living in the Neighborhood Center's transitional house in DeLand with their two daughters since March after Bodigon said he was laid off from his carpentry job last year and their three-bedroom Orange City house went into foreclosure. The family spent some time apart while Bodigon tried to find work out of state and they spent time at the agency's shelter and housing for women and children.

The family is saving about $100 a week by not running the electricity as much, not eating out, and getting free movies at the library.

Voss, who is going to college to become a patient care technician and certified nursing assistant, and Bodigon, who is working full time, say it's been hard. They'd been used to having money to spend. It took a few months just to save for a special calculator for one daughter's math class.

"It's tough having your own place and your own cars and thinking your job is secure and you go from that to nothing," Bodigon said. "Never say never."

deborah.circelli@news-jrnl.com

The Assets for Independence Program

WHAT IS IT: The Assets for Independence program is operated nationally by almost 300 agencies, including 11 statewide, according to the federal Administration for Children & Families.

The program helps low-income individuals and families get money toward a home, education, training or to start a business. Locally, officials are focusing on housing.

HOW IT WORKS: Local officials have about $300,000 for five years, half from The Community Foundation, a division of the United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties, and half in federal funding. They hope to initially help 64 people with funds toward a down payment. Participants must demonstrate they can save for at least a year, including a minimum of $25 a month.

The United Way will sign people up July 1 and will initially work with clients from Family Renew Community, the Neighborhood Center of West Volusia and Flagler Habitat for Humanity. Bank of America and the Campaign for Working Families are also involved.

Eligibility is based on federal guidelines similar to people qualifying for an earned income tax credit.

BANKS & CREDIT UNIONS TAKE THE CHALLENGE
 528 Students Reached with Savings Education Lesson

[APRIL 21, 2009] — On Tuesday, April 21 Bank of America, Colonial Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Riverside, SunTrust, VyStar Credit Union, and Wachovia, through the coordinated efforts of Campaign for Working Families, accepted calls for financial institutions to join together to reached 528 Fourth and Fifth Grade Students in Volusiaand Flagler Schools to teach a lesson on saving.

“Our new financial reality coupled with consumers learning to do more with less makes teaching our children ways to save more important than ever,” explained Nita Schmellick, spokesperson for Campaign for Working Families Coalition.  “Helping to reach students with a financial education lesson is another way these banks and credit union’s can contribute to our nation’s economic recovery.

Together we used this opportunity to share with young people the difference between needs and wants, ways to identify expenses and how priorities can influence spending. Lesson’s learned will help to build a generation of saving consumers.

Going into the classroom to give a saving lesson is just one of Campaign for Working Families’ financial education initatives.  For more than four years, the FDIC Money Smart Program for Adults has been offered free in the community and more recently Money Smart for Young Adults has been taught at local universities, as well as at non-profit and faith-based organizations. 

In these difficult economic times, the Internal Revenue Service and hundreds of its community partners want to go the extra mile to assist taxpayers. On Saturday, March 21, 2009, approximately 250 IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers and 1,000 community free tax help sites nationwide will open their doors to assist people. People who earn $42,000 or less are eligible for free tax return preparation at either the IRS TACs (Taxpayer Assistance Centers) or the community partner sites. Campaign for Working Families’ will be hosting Super Saturday at Grace Episcopal Church at 4110 S. Ridgewood Ave., Port Orange, FL from 11am to 2pm.

Super Saturday also is an opportunity for people, regardless of income, who may have a tax issue or who may be unable to pay their tax bill to visit an IRS TAC. The IRS can work with people to set up payment option plans that will prevent even greater penalties and interest. The IRS is committed to doing what it can to help financially distressed taxpayers who have played by the rules.

Story Highlights: 

5-5-07 News Journal Business Section Features Money Smart Class Participant

By THOMAS S. BROWN
Business Writer

DELAND -- Pat Williams remembers being taught by her parents to be thrifty when she was growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y.

"I had my little savings-account passbook at elementary school, and every Tuesday we'd bring in our quarters to add to our accounts," Williams said.

But years later, after starting her career as a massage therapist, the financial lessons of her girlhood were forgotten and she found herself seriously in debt.

"I was one of those people who wouldn't open the mail or answer the telephone because I knew it was going to be someone wanting their money," Williams said.

Four years ago, she left New York and moved to DeLand to help care for her widowed mother. As part of starting over in a small, quiet town, Williams resolved to regain control of her finances. A year ago, at the urging of Donna Banks, a Spring Hill neighborhood activist, she enrolled in Money Smart, a free 10-hour course in household money management. Now, at 53, Williams has returned to the disciplined routine she was taught as a girl.

"I have a journal and keep track of everything I buy. I keep receipts for everything -- they're the receipts of my life," she said.

She's also become a shrewder shopper, sticking to shopping lists at supermarkets and avoiding impulse purchases at convenience stores. She's urging friends to open up no-fee bank accounts instead of paying check-cashing fees to stores or payday loan shops.

Money Smart is a self-help program that was launched locally last spring by the Campaign for Working Families, a coalition of area nonprofits and banks helping low- and middle-income people to improve their finances. More than 400 area residents have taken the classes, organizers report.

The course uses materials developed by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the agency that insures most bank and thrift accounts. Topics include the basics of banking, budgeting, record-keeping, understanding credit reports, using credit cards wisely and preparing for home ownership.

"It was very elementary," Williams said of the class. "A lot of the things I knew already, but that was all right. I needed a reminder."

Williams said one of the more valuable things she gained was more self-confidence in dealing with bankers and creditors.

"If you don't deal with your bills, then the bills will deal with you" she said. "Ninety percent of the time a business will help you out if you just call them up and say, 'Here is my situation -- this is what I can afford to do right now and what I can pay later.' "

After getting her personal finances in order, Williams moved on and scraped together enough money to open her own massage studio, pEssentials, to supplement massage work she does at the West Volusia YMCA. (The "p" in her company name stands not only for Pat but also various guiding words for her enterprise, such as pure, poised, positive, precise and priority.) The business opened in March in the Conrad Building, 112 W. New York Ave.

"The lessons I learned about keeping track of my own money are now being used in my business," Williams said.

Williams took her Money Smart class at the Spring Hill Resource Center, but most students have received the training at DeLand's One-Stop Career Centers, a state-financed employment agency, said Loretta Wilary, Money Smart's coordinator. The program is seeking large employers and nonprofits to host future classes.

"This makes sense for an employer to offer," Wilary said. "If their employees get better at handling money, they'll be less likely to jump to another company for 50 cents more an hour."