MoneyWi$e returns to Dallas

The daylong training centered on timeless topics, such as establishing and rebuilding credit, managing your money, avoiding and dealing with identity theft, banking and saving.

MoneyWi$e is a financial literacy partnership between Consumer Action and Capital One. Lindsey Jamar, a Capital One community affairs team member, and Audrey Perrott, Consumer Action’s associate director of training and outreach, welcomed the organizations and provided some background about the MoneyWi$e partnership and its long-term commitment to promoting financial literacy in diverse communities.

Linda Williams, one of Consumer Action’s community outreach and training managers, kicked off the day with a session on how to effectively teach adults. She discussed motivations for adults to learn, their various learning styles and how to connect with diverse audiences. She also discussed issues that may create barriers to adult learning.

During a second session, on money management, Williams segued into a group activity using a case study for a fictional client, Sally Walker. This case study covers elements of the MoneyWi$e money management, identity theft and rebuilding credit modules. Participants broke into teams and discussed their action plans for Sally, drawing on information and materials in their MoneyWi$e toolkits. Each team then presented their action plans to the larger group.

Community outreach and training manager Nelson Santiago led sessions on establishing and rebuilding credit. He covered the importance of good credit, how to obtain your credit report, how your credit rating determines the interest rate you pay on borrowed money and strategies for rebuilding good credit. Santiago also discussed secured cards and told the group about several key resources, including Consumer Action's secured credit card survey. Williams provided an overview of the banking and savings modules and gave participants a note-taking guide for each topic to help them retain key concepts.

The trainers joined forces to lead a “teach-back,” or “fishbowl,” activity, during which participants working in small groups selected one of six MoneyWi$e modules to review and present to the full group. The module choices were Banking Basics, Micro Business, Rebuilding Good Credit, Elder Fraud, Saving to Build Wealth, and ID Theft and Account Fraud. (All can be found on the MoneyWi$e website).

Each team was given a condensed version of the module it chose and tasked with developing an engaging way to present the material. Some participants used skits to present the information while others used the module’s PowerPoint slides. The purpose of the exercise is to demonstrate how quickly trainers can grasp the MoneyWi$e materials and be prepared to deliver the content effectively to their target audience.

Consumer Action received a lot of positive feedback regarding the training. Jesse A. Sanchez of the Dallas County Home Loan Counseling Center wrote in his evaluation: “The training was very beneficial and coordinated very well. Thank you for the opportunity to attend and for the materials that will contribute to our financial literacy programs and our effort to help our local community.”