An Overview of Financial Education and the Positive Impact for Jobseekers Live Captioning Transcript
>> Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our webinar, An Overview of Financial
Education and the Positive Impact for Job Seekers. We will get started with today's webinar in just a
couple of minutes. Thank you.
>> Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our webinar, An Overview of Financial
Education and the Positive Impact for Job Seekers . My name is Michael Roush, I am the director of the
Real Economic Impact Network at the National Disability Institute. And, today's webinar is part of a
three-part series that looks further into what is financial education, why is it important, and what do
we know about the in positive it has for jobseekers. This is a follow-up to our webinar that we hosted
last week. And, so we thank each of you for joining us again today for this webinar series. I would like
to say a special thank you to our sponsor, Wells Fargo. As well as hands-on banking. A financial
education curriculum. An online platform as well as instructor guides. That was created by Wells Fargo
and that curriculum is hands-on banking. So, I would like to thank them for their support of the project
near the importance of financial education as well as on strategies to integrate financial education into
the American job centers. Before we get started, I would like to turn it over to my colleague, Nakia
Matthews, to go over some housekeeping tips.
>> Thank you, Michael, and good afternoon, everyone. The audio for today's webinar is being
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you can use the chat box to send me a message, or you can email me directly at [email protected] . And with that, I will turn it back over to Michael.
>> Thank you, and Nakia. Great, I know the majority of you, if you are participating in today's webinar,
you also participated in the webinar last Tuesday. So, many of you then are already familiar with the
National Disability Institute, but just in case, if you have some colleagues who are listening to this
webinar with you, I want to share some additional information. So, the National Disability Institute,
our mission at NDI is to direct social impact to build a better economic future for people with
disabilities and their families. At the National Disability Institute, we have the Real Economic Impact
Network, which is a program that I oversee. And, it is an alliance of organizations and individuals
dedicated to advancing the economic empowerment of people with disabilities. Consists of more than
4500 members located throughout the United States and if you have not joined, it is free and I hope
that you will join us. Be a part of this national movement, where we join forces to embrace, promote,
and pursue access to and inclusion of people with disabilities in the economic mainstream. You can
learn more by going to our website, at RealEconomicImpact.org.
>> As I mentioned earlier, this is a part of a three part webinar series. This is the first part. We wanted
to provide this information to job centers and other community-based organizations who really
wanted to look at integrating financial education into their delivery of service and services. And if so,
this last week, we provided just an overview of our project with Wells Fargo and Hands on Banking.
And so, the next three webinars, including today, will help build upon that information. And, allow us
to understand what is financial education. Often times, folks ask me, what is it that we consider
financial education. Also at times, people say, well, what's the difference between financial education,
financial capability and financial stability? What is it that we are working towards? And so, for today's
webinar, we are going to define financial education. We are also going to look at the positive impact
that financial education has with jobseekers. As I mentioned on our last webinar, I worked in the
American Job Centers and implemented a financial education program and have had the great
opportunity to help other job centers across the country integrate financial education into their
delivery of services, where we have personally seen the impact of financial education on -- and
financial education has with jobseekers. But we have also seen the positive impact on how financial
education enhances employment outcomes, and makes our job as employment specialists even easier
at times. Without creating additional work. So, we are going to look at that as well. We are also going
to understand the and financial education component of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act. We touched on that a little bit last week but we are going to look at that a little bit more. And
then finally, we are going to talk about and make sure that we all understand the paradigm shift that
we really need to embrace. And that is that employment is one goal, but not the only goal that we are
working towards. And then finally, we will talk about some next steps as well as some other
opportunities for you to become engaged and potentially proceed in some technical assistance to help
you integrate financial education into your system. Or, if you are already integrating financial
education into your system, there are some opportunities where we can help look at your program
and offer some thoughts and suggestions if you would like.
>> So, that is what we are going to cover in our time today. Just so you know, these webinars are
meant to be an intimate setting. However, we can do that virtually. So, we do have a small number
that is participated -- we have left it as a small number that is able to participate in the webinar. At this
time if you have questions pertaining specifically to this content on financial education or Hands on
Banking, please add them to the Q&A box, or to the chat box, okay? So, those are the questions we are
going to focus on today, the financial education questions, and integrative services. So, let's get
started. I just want to remind you, as we mentioned on the previous webinar, there is a toolkit called
integrating financial education into the American job centers. If you participated in the webinar last
week you received a link on how to download the toolkit. It is also on our website under resources. You
go to webinars, and then other program webinars and you will see integrating financial education into
American Job Centers and you will find a link to the toolkit. This toolkit provides six simple steps to
help you integrate financial education into your system. The toolkit provides simple steps, because it is
really important that as we try to integrate financial education into our system, that we don't make it
more difficult than what it is. All right? And so, this toolkit will help guide you. So, the toolkit provides
an introduction on why financial education is important. And that is what we are going to talk about
today. It also provides financial education tools and resources, information particularly on Hands on
Banking. It provides the steps to creating a financial education program. Also, it provides tips on how
to start the conversation with customers. And I'm going to share with you some information today on
some studies that have been done, but also on a survey that we had done with the state of Florida and
their disability employment initiative where we worked with them over a three-year period to
integrate financial capability strategies including and financial education into their system. And share
with you what some of the staff had shared. And so, we are going to talk about some of those tips on
how to start the conversation with customers.
>> The toolkit also has information on a variety of resources where you can go and learn more
information. So, a variety of things in the toolkit that can help you get started. So, in the toolkit, there
are six steps. And, today, we are going to talk about why financial education is important for
jobseekers. And then on our next webinar which is next week, we are going to dive more into these six
steps and give you the different information you need, as well as talk about how you can go through
and incorporate each of these six steps to create your financial education program. So, those six steps
include wanting to create an understanding of why financial education is important for jobseekers.
Often times, when I am in the American Job Centers, or working in the job centers, people would say,
that's not our job. Our job is to get people employment. Find them a job. But, it is important we look
at creating an understanding of what financial education is and how it does enhance the work that we
are doing. And if so, we will talk about that. The second step is that you have to identify opportunities
for financial education for jobseekers. It is important that we identify those opportunities. You don't
have to host just a workshop. And I'm going to give some examples of how you can provide financial
education on a one-on-one setting. And we will look at some case examples for that as well. And in our
webinar next week, we will dive ED -- even deeper into that.
>> Step three is choose the right financial education program for your center. We will look specifically
at how to determine which version or what type of financial education you want to provide. If you
specifically use the Hands on Banking program, it offers extreme flexibility and so we are going to dive
deeper into looking at different ways that Hands on Banking can be fit into the American Job Centers
throughout the customer flow at different levels.
>> The next step is to create marketing materials that are relevant to the audience. And so the toolkit
will also talk about this and we will talk about that next week. Step five is in service training for job
center staff. Again, it is important that once you get your program up and running, that you get
everybody on board to participate. Okay? Then, the other thing is, the last step, it is important to have
fun and be creative. You know, each time I do a financial education class or any piece that I do, I
always incorporate activities or games because we know that as adults, we learned just like children.
As children, we learn through play, through activities. As adults, we also learn by doing. We also
learned through activities or fun ways of learning. And if so, the final step is to have fun and be
creative.
>> So, as we get started here looking at financial education and defining what is financial education,
as I mentioned, often times, people ask, what is the difference between different terms that they
here? Financial education, financial capability, and, financial stability. And so, as we look further at
financial education and why it is important, I provided this image here. And it has an arrow. And it is
showing the different progressions here and why and where financial education fits into this. First off,
financial education is the knowledge and skills. It is the knowledge and skills that I need to make
money decisions. Once I understand that knowledge, then that leads me to putting that knowledge
into positive actions or putting it into positive behaviors that allow me to ultimately achieve financial
stability. So, the example I have given in the past is teaching someone the importance of creating a
spending plan, knowing where their money is, so I'm teaching them, giving them a worksheet on how
to create a spending plan. They go back and create a spending plan but also stick with that spending
plan. It is one thing to create a budget, that budget might look great on paper and show, oh, I've got all
of this extra money left. But if I don't follow that budget specifically, that may not lead me to achieve
financial stability. So, the positive action and financial capability piece of learning about a spending
plan is that I create the spending plan, but I stick with the spending plan which will then lead to a
positive outcome of financial stability.
>> I'm going to dive into each of these just a little bit further to give you an understanding and this will
also demonstrate why financial education is so important. First of all, as I mentioned, financial
education is the knowledge on how to manage finances. It gives me the knowledge on how to manage
my money appropriately. And so, there is a variety of financial education topics. And I put a list
together on what some of those topics might be. Some of those financial education topics might be
setting financial goals. Has an individual set a financial goal? And, that financial goal could be to have
gas money, to get me back and forth from work each week. That financial goal could be to make sure
that I have food on the table for my children, for the week. And for the month. It could be to save
money to go back to college. So, whatever that goal might be for individuals, it is really important that
that is one of the first steps that we do. Another topic of financial education is identifying income
versus expenses. And, this is really important as we start to create a spending plan. And so, individuals
are able to identify what are all of those resources I'm getting income from, and what are all of those
expenses I have. And once we start to look at those expenses, are there expenses that we might need
to decrease for the time being to help me achieve my financial goal? We also learn about maintaining
and planning a household spending plan, checking services, developing and maintaining good credit.
Identifying needs over one -- wants. I think this is a really important piece of financial education to
have the conversation. I think it is an easy conversation we can have to be able to help coach them
and identify what are their needs and what are their wants. And, that is really an important piece of
financial education but then that is also going to look at identifying their income versus there
expenses.
>> Also, financial education includes topics on debt management, avoiding money traps and
recognizing predatory lending services or practices. Strategies to engage in asset development,
particularly talking about savings. Maybe investments. And then, also, financial education provides
information about comparing financial products and services. So, there are many more financial
education topics that are out there. That, you know, you can include. I think a piece that is important
to note here, we will talk about this next week or as we talk about the six steps, and as they work with
American Job Centers, I work with them to identify what are those key financial education topics that
you want to include in your job center? You don't have to cover all of these specific topics. Some just
decide, you know what? Our customers really need to know about credit. It seems like there are a lot
of individuals who may have debt management issues, situations as they are going and looking for a
job and things like that. That might be a key topic that you include. Often times, the idea of creating a
spending plan is very important. And so, the key financial education topic that is included than is
creating a household spending plan. So, you have to determine which topics you feel are important to
the customers that you serve. And, determine what they will be. Some job centers or financial
education workshops on a weekly basis and each month they rotate on a different topic and cover
multiple topics. So again, you get to decide which topic works best for you. And, that is something that
next week we will talk a little bit more about and how to identify what are those key topics and making
sure that my customers receive that.
>> So, now that we understand financial education, and we have the knowledge and skills, we then
need to talk about financial capability. And financial capability again is those positive behaviors of
those positive actions that allow me to achieve financial stability. Financial education is the positive
impact to make informed money decisions that help me achieve financial stability. And often times,
financial capability is used when people are talking about financial education. I think it is important for
you to understand that financial education leads to hopefully the positive behaviors that help an
individual achieve financial capability.
>> Financial capability is measured by whether individuals with or without disabilities set and achieve
one or more financial health goal. It is also measured by how they improve their income production,
that is a positive behavior to achieve financial stability. It is also measured if they are accessing public
benefits and work support programs, a variety of programs out there are available to help an individual
achieve financial stability. And so, it is important that you access and manage those public benefits
appropriately. If you want to learn more about public benefits and work support programs and how
that helps build the financial stability of an individual, you can go into our webinars and check that out,
as we have done a few topics on that. Also, we measure it by managing affordable healthcare
appropriately. IV managing monthly expenses and that appropriate? Are they managing credit
appropriate? You know, credit is really an important topic in the American Job Centers because we are
working with individuals, particularly if an individual is trained to get a job with an employer where
they might need to get security clearance and part of that security clearance is that they had to have
their credit history checked, to check their credit worthiness. So, managing credit appropriately is very
important.
>> Next, select and manage financial products and services. We really encourage and believe that
having a bank account leads an individual to achieve their ultimate goals. It provides a safe place where
they can keep their money. And if they use a savings account, can potentially even build some money
with the interest paid. So, we measure financial capability as if the individual has selected and
managed financial products and services appropriately. Also, we measure by if they made an increase
in their financial knowledge and are they making informed decisions regarding their financial wellbeing or their financial stability. Have they looked at all of the different pieces? All of the different
components to be able to make those smart choices? So, an example is, let's say an individual wants to
own a home some day. And have they increase their knowledge by reviewing different types of
mortgages? Reviewing different types of programs? And from the first time homebuying programs?
And, where they gather all of that information and then are able to make those informed decisions.
We also measure financial capability by identifying and looking at trusted sources for advice. It is
important that we connect with those trusted networks to be able to do that. And often times, when
individuals are working with staff within the American Job Centers, maybe within the TANF program or
others, often times, counselors become trusted sources. That is when they often get that information.
>> The other piece about how we measure financial capability is has the individual planned and are
they saving for the future? So, we believe that each of these positive behaviors here will lead an
individual to achieve financial stability. And, in just a minute, I'm going to give some additional
examples to show you how each of these come together. Okay?
>> So, once we increase our knowledge and skills, we have received some financial education, we put
that financial education, that knowledge, into action. Which leads to financial capability, which leads to
those positive behaviors, those positive actions I'm taking towards my money. It then leads to a
financial stability. And, financial stability is the ultimate goal that we are working on with jobseekers to
ultimately receive. Right? Often times, we think that it is job placement which is definitely important.
That is how we are measured, employment outcomes. But really, we are ultimately trying to help the
individual achieve financial stability, where they have the income to be able to maintain their daily
expenses, and also allow them to be able to save for the future. So, financial stability is the outcome of
taking the knowledge and outcomes to positively make financial decisions. So, financial stability is the
outcome. The ultimate outcome of that we are trying to achieve from financial education.
>> So, we look at financial stability and a couple of ways. One, having said one or more financial goal
that they are achieving. That they are achieving, that is the key piece. Does the individual have the
financial resources to cover dates of living expenses? That is really important. When we achieve
financial stability, to cover those expenses, transportation to goo to and from work, food on the table,
all of the basic living expenses. Financial stability also identified is have we saved for emergencies and
have we saved for the future? I give the example often time of an individual whose car broke down.
They have poor credit, and, they did not have a large circle of support. And, their car broke down and
there was not adequate public transportation. And, the car broke down, and what happened to the car
is that the timing belt went out. And, the timing belt is a high-priced item to have fixed. Unless you can
do it your self. And so, the individual did not have an emergency savings. The individual had poor
credit. The individual did not have that credit history. Positive credit history. And so, that individual
could not get to work because their car was broken down. And, there was not adequate public
transportation for them to use public transportation. So, they called into work and said, my car broke
down, I can't come into work today. They called in a second day, my car broke down, I can't come into
work. And so, they still had not gotten their car fixed because of the high expense that they had. And
so, that individual ended up losing their job. And so then they were back into the job center working
with the disability resource coordinator, to try to identify another position for them. But, the key piece
here is that they also needed to discuss the car situation. And, that is where we bring this example up.
If the individual had the opportunity to save for the future, and or have positive credit, potentially they
could have gotten a loan or something like that to be able to pay for the repair. But, having that
financial education would have allowed them to set some money aside, to save for emergencies and
the future, where they are still able to maintain their automobile to be able to get to and from work.
So, we measure financial stability, if they have had the opportunity to save for emergencies and for the
future. It does not have to be a large amount of money, but, we want to see that they are having some
type of savings for emergencies, and also for retirement. And, the example I just gave is the ability to
successfully manage an unexpected financial shock. In the example I just gave you, for that individual,
when we look and see if they are financially stable, we see that they were unable to successfully
manage that unexpected financial shock, that the timing belt went out in their car. So, we look at
financial stability in a variety of ways. But, these are the key pieces. Again, we are helping individuals to
ultimately achieve financial stability. So, let's recap with this information as we defined the key terms
to help us understand and build the knowledge and why financial education is important.
>> So, financial decisions are based on good financial information. And so, when financial decisions are
based on good information, that is financial education, and that a good information and positive
actions, financial capability, taking that information, putting in positive actions or behaviors, based on
that information I have learned, it is then driven by positive financial goals, which is then driven and
leads to financial stability. So, financial decisions are based on good information and positive actions
are driven by positive financial goals. Financial education leads to positive capability, financial
capability leads to positive financial stability. It is important that we have each of these pieces. And,
the ideal time for us to start having the conversation about financial education, are those opportunities
where we really needed. And, one of those great opportunities where we really needed is when we are
in the job search stage, as we have to really work on budgeting and managing our money. So often
times, that is an ideal touch point for us to incorporate some key pieces on financial education.
>> All right. What I want to do is spend the next couple of minutes and talk about some examples here,
so you can look to see how financial education links to financial stability. So, for an individual goal, the
goal is to earn more money. They want to earn more money. So, a positive action that they will take
based on information that they have learned is that the individual will work to their full potential and
utilize available employer benefits and Social Security work incentives. So, an example of how that
positive action can help them lead to earning money. Often times within the American job centers, we
can learn about employer benefits but we can also learn about Social Security Administration work
incentives, and how to access those programs. But we can also learn about other work supports within
the American Job Centers, such as the employment and training dollars attached.
>> So, the next example is to use money effectively. Very important for individuals that are looking for
a job, if they have a limited budget, while they are looking for the job, to identify how to use money
effectively during that situation. And if so, the positive action for the individual is that they learn about
the importance of a spending plan or a budget to meet their needs and obtain their goals. But, it is also
that positive action of utilizing affordable financial products. And, using credit wisely. And, it goes back
to really identifying what their needs versus wants are. So, if an individual talks about wanting to use
money effectively, we know pieces that we can provide, that positive action, that will help them
achieve the goal. So, the next example here is the goal is to save money. And, the positive action is that
individuals pay themselves first by creating a savings account, having emergency funds and using
match savings programs and other protected savings opportunities to build assets. And so, the
financial education piece again would be that they identify or learn about different taking products or
services but also create a spending plan to be able to save more money. Another example is to protect
money earned and saved, and so, the positive action, individuals accessing insurance options to protect
the money they have and their ability to earn more. So again, the knowledge that they would gain do
lead to this positive action and goal would be to access accounts that protect their money. And, the
importance of using banking products. Particularly those that might be or are insured by FDIC as an
example.
>> The next example is to understand how money can grow. And yes, I always mention this in different
trainings and people always say, what? Money doesn't grow on trees. Right? No, it does not. And so,
this goal is to understand how money can grow. What's interesting is that often times, individuals are
not aware of how their money can potentially grow. And, the importance of using a savings account.
The long history has been using a check cashing store and saving their money in their mattress or their
freezer. And so often times, when we share with individuals, about how money can grow, and how to
use a savings account and things like that, individuals are often times intrigued as they may not have
been educated about that before. So, the goal is to understand how money can grow. That positive
action is that individuals build their knowledge of money, connect with trusted entities for advice, and
use available resources and supports. A really important piece for them to understand.
>> So, let me give you a case example here. So, the case example is that Tom is working part-time, and
has recently decided to look for full-time employment, and he needs a disability resource coordinator
at the American Job Centers. And, the DRC, disability resource coordinator, provides a well-being
assessment for him to be able to complete. And, financial well-being assessment for those of you who
are not familiar with it is basically an assessment that is geared toward asking a variety of financial
questions to find out where they are in achieving financial well-being or financial stability. So for
example, one of the questions is, do you have a bank account? Yes or no. Do you have a safe and stable
housing? Yes or no. These different questions provide me with a lot of information as a DRC and how I
can assist them. If you're interested in checking out financial well-being assessments, please let me
know and we can share with you an example of a financial well-being assessment that we use at the
National Disability Institute.
>> So, the DRC looks at the financial well-being assessment, and the DRC identifies that Tom does not
have a checking account and is currently using a check cashing service to cash his paycheck. So, the
DRC provides information to Tom on the importance of bank accounts, and the different types of bank
accounts. Here, the individual is not in a financial education workshop, but, the DRC is providing
financial education to Tom by sharing with him information about a bank account. So, he is transferring
that knowledge on, hey, this is really important to have a bank account. The other piece is the DRC may
have a conversation with him about, oh, some employers require direct deposit. Okay? So, if Tom does
not have a bank account and get the job with direct deposit, is he going to get that job? Some may say
he won't get that job. But, he potentially will get the job because I can educate him on getting a
prepaid debit card to be able to have direct deposit until we can get a bank account. So here, I am
providing financial education knowledge to the individual that is helping me achieve better
employment outcomes for the individual because I'm now going to refer him into a job at the time
being, where they do require direct deposit if he does not have any way to get direct deposit. So, the
DRC asked Tom to consider opening a checking account and Tom agrees to do so. So, the DRC refers
Tom to a financial education class at the job center because it is important for him to learn how to
balance a checkbook because he has not learned. During each follow-up meeting, the DRC asks Tom if
he has balanced his checkbook each week. Tom shared that he is balancing his checkbook each
weekend here, he is exhibiting financial capability, taken the knowledge and skills and turning it into a
positive action behavior. Here, Tom maintains his checkbook for six months and is making positive
financial decisions that is leading to financial stability. So of course, this is a very simplistic example but,
I put this example in here as we look at the different pieces of financial education, different topics,
financial education, financial stability, of how financial education can be provided on a one-on-one
basis. But also leading them to the financial education class to get more information about how I am
helping the individual to ultimately achieve financial stability. Okay? Achieving financial stability. So,
let's talk about why integrating financial education is important into the American Job Centers.
>> So, why is integrating financial education important? It is important on a variety of levels. And if so,
I first want us to look at the individual. Why is financial education and integrating it into the job centers
important? For the individual, it increases their likelihood of success because the job is not their only
goal. Okay? So, they start to work toward their ultimate financial goal, but to achieve the ultimate
financial goal, I've got to have wages. And if so, that is one piece of it, getting those wages but
ultimately, we are going to achieve financial stability. I think it is also important for the individual, that
it increases the likelihood of success because potentially it can decrease crisis mode, their crisis
situation, that some customers are in on a regular basis, weekly basis. Regularly in my office in crisis
mode. And often times, some of those crisis mode a situation might be diverted if they have some
financial education. Also, for the individual, we know that it increases long-term planning for the
individual. And allows them the opportunity to be able to plan for the future but often times
individuals want to increase their income, their income production, based on the information that they
have gained because they are looking ultimately at their ultimate financial goals. We often see how
financial education leads to greater educational attainment for the individual. Allowing them to
achieve the goal and identify what work supports are available, to be able to achieve my goal. So for
example, an individual might want to start off as a nursing assistant, or a certified nursing assistant.
But, what we have seen and actually, part of my budget work that they send is is looking at CNAs and
how when financial education was applied, looking at the number of individuals that went on to
become a licensed nurse, or became a registered nurse. And if so, that is another piece that we see,
that it leads to greater educational attainment. And, I just had an instant message that I was breaking
up, so, I am just double checking to make sure that the audio is fine. Nakia, if you can send me a
message back to let me know that you can hear me. Unfortunately at my location there is a storm
happening. Hopefully we will get through this webinar before anything happens. Okay, great. That's an
example of greater education attainment. Individuals were able to save for the future, that they were
able to work toward achieving higher levels of education but we also know that it improves economic
stability for the individual. So, here is the important piece, by integration is important for the job
center staff in improve implement outcomes. I give a couple of examples already but it improves
employment outcomes and I will give you that example again. So let's say an individual wants to work
out the National Disability Institute, and they need all of the qualifications, they get the job and then
they read the employee handbook and go through the HR process. The individual does not have a bank
account, the employee handbook states direct deposit, all employees have to have it. Depending on
which program they work on, they might need to go through a security clearance. Right? And have a
credit history checked. If the individual has poor credit history they may be back in my office where we
need to identify another place for them. But if the individual gets a prepaid card or accesses the
Federal bonding program, they will get a job at the National Disability Institute. That is just an example
here. But we know that when we understand this, does the individual have a bank account? Have they
checked the bank account in the past year? We know that is just the employment specialist to help
lead to better employment outcomes. We also know that it reduces employer turnover costs. We
know that if individuals have planned, they are not back in our office looking for that other job every
couple of months. So, it does reduce employer turnover costs. But the other piece is that it supports
staff and program outcomes. Support staff to ultimately achieve that implement outcome by helping
an individual gain their knowledge and skills that they need to achieve financial stability where
employment is one of those key pieces. Integration is very important. With that, I want to share a
couple of pieces not only through us but others. We know that it is evidence-based. A report by the
Annie E. Casey foundation, who developed the centers for workforce model, show that bundling three
core services of employment, financial income support, financial education, leads to job retention and
increased monthly net income for the individual. Also, the University of Wisconsin Madison report
found that staff reported coach training to be able to talk to an individual to coach them to achieving
financial stability, has moderate to high impact on working with clients but offered to the job
satisfaction. We also want to share with you the employment disability initiative where we worked
with their project for three years to integrate financial education and other financial capability
strategies into the American Job Centers. As we surveyed job center staff, we found 92% of customers,
this is how staff rated them, the overall financial knowledge was moderate to very low. 74% of them -led to conversations about individuals being there in crisis mode and not fully understanding how to
manage limited income at their time and of course, how can stuff -- how can staff the knowledge and
skills to help the clients? Staff also stated that 84% of staff where the customers had difficulty in
covering monthly expenses and paying monthly bills. Not much of a shocker as we know that
individuals have limited income which is potentially why they are looking for that job. But what the
survey shared with us is that our customers needed that information, needed financial education to
help eliminate some of these barriers and goals. We also learned from talking to staff at the American
Job Centers that we wanted to assess their comfort level in speaking to customers regarding the
health of personal levels and over half of those surveyed answered that they were not comfortable
speaking with customers about their financial health. That is why we believe it is important as one of
our six steps, to educate staff on the importance of financial education. Also, there might be tools that
the staff could use but that it is important to talk personal finances, and the importance of this with
our clients so that they can achieve financial stability which will also lead to better employment
outcomes. Financial education, embedding it within the American Job Centers allows staff to build
their level of comfort in speaking with customers about financial health.
>> Really quickly I want to share with you a promising practice. This is a project that is participating
with us in our pilot project. The MET Center is a job center located in St. Louis, Missouri. They provide
a variety of services. Job training, placement assessment, career development services, they also
provide transportation services. And, they incorporate different strategies. But, in a report that they
put together, they found that bundling and sequencing of work readiness training, financial literacy tax
preparation and asset building, that it leads to long-term engagement, it improves the effectiveness of
the services. And optimized the customer's utilization of services with the use of multiple services at
the center. It also increase customer retention because they came back and participated. They also
saw an increase in participant wages. And I did provide a link that provides information on how to find
information on their program. That link is on the bottom of the slide. We will talk more about this in
the next section but I want to share with you briefly about the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act and focus on financial education. I'm not going to go into great detail on this because I know many
other programs at the National Disability Institute are focusing on this and we have a variety of
webinars that you can access. Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is a focus on
financial education programs. To identify with the WIOA final rule, local programs must meet each of
the 14 identified services available to use participants and one of those is financial literacy. Under the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act it talks about how the activity can support the individuals
to create a budget spending plan, initiate checking and savings accounts at things, and make informed
financial decisions. Also, another activity could be to understand, evaluate and compare financial
products, services and opportunities. And here are some additional examples where the individual can
get connected to a benefits planning and work and send of counting. There are a variety of financial
education savings here and how they are required as a financial service. So, as you participate in this
series and you start to create your program, we will identify some of those key pieces that it talks
about in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act on the different topics and how they can be
incorporated, specifically into your job center. As we close out I want to remind you it is important to
make the paradigm shift. To incorporate financial education into the American Job Centers, it is
important that we begin to make the paradigm shift. We must recognize that employment is one goal
but not the only goal of the jobseekers we work with. The ultimate goal is financial stability. All right?
So with that, that is information on what is financial education and how it leads to financial stability
and why financial education has a positive impact on jobseekers. Our upcoming series next week, on
August 9 at 3 p.m., we will be rolling up our sleeves and looking for the six steps to integrating financial
education into the American Job Centers. We will also open up the chat box where you will be able to
ask different questions and share pieces on your program. To register for that webinar, there is a link in
the chat box that you can access. All right? So, next week, we are diving into the six steps to integrating
financial education into the American Job Centers. And our last webinar is going to be motivating
jobseekers to access financial education programs. How do we get jobseekers to see the value with
this? Now that we've got our staff and program on board, how can we motivate clients to be able to
access these programs? That will be our final conversation. Each of these webinars are recorded so
that you can share this information with colleagues and others as well. All right? So, information is in
the box to be able to register.
>> So, some next steps before next week if possible. Please download and reveal the toolkit. If you are
interested in exploring opportunities on how to incorporate financial education, continued to be a part
of this series. If you're interested in connecting with a staff member to discuss your financial education
program, or you would like to incorporate hands on banking into your services, please send an email to
[email protected]. Next week , we will have Heather Benedict with Hands on Banking, and also in a final
decision, where we will be looking, talking specifically about Hands on Banking during each of those
different steps and how you can incorporate them. All right? So, please join us. But also if you are
interested in incorporating Hands on Banking or having a representative come to provide financial
education, please send us a message. So, finally, I hope you join the movement. To sign up for the Real
Economic Impact Network if you are not part of it. Join us for the webinar next weekend if you have
not signed the pledge, we hope you sign a pledge to disable property which is a grassroots campaign,
which aims to increase awareness about the nearly one in three Americans with disabilities that live in
poverty and remain outside the economic mainstream. So with that, we have one minute left. We have
some questions that did come in, I'm just checking. Again, the questions we are answering today are
primarily on financial education, and, we will be sure to address each of those additional questions
that came in next week. So the question is, will this and other webinars be archived so that they may
be accessed? And can I download the PowerPoint? Absolutely. After this webinar, you will receive a
link. To be able to get that. So, with that, I know we ran out of time, I am unable to get through all of
the questions. We have a lot of content to share today. Specifically about financial education, financial
capability and financial stability. Designed to get on board. So, that it will help build plenty of
information that we need for next week and webinars. So with that, I want to thank everyone for
joining us for the three-part series. I hope you all join us next week. We will look further at the success
-- six steps. I would like to thank Wells Fargo and Hands on Banking for the support of this project and
looking at financial education and how to positively impact the lives of individuals with and without
disabilities. I would also like to thank my colleagues, Nakia Matthews, as well as Lori, for their
assistance with the project. With that, I would like to thank everybody for participating and I hope you
have a great day. Thank you.
>> [ Event concluded ]