A program specialist from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and a senior consultant from ICF helped to lead a recent professional development workshop at the Brown School, “Behind on Bills: Tools to Help Your Clients Secure Greater Financial Well-Being.”
The Center for Social Development (CSD) initiated the October 28 workshop in collaboration with the CFPB. The focus was to build social workers’ and other service providers’ comfort and skills in assisting clients with such financial issues as managing debt, credit and household cash flow.
Participants came from the St. Louis City Treasurer’s Office, Beyond Housing, Operation Hope, Society for the Blind and other organizations.
The ICF’s Denise DeVaan described how to approach integration of “Your Money, Your Goals,” a CFPB toolkit, into work with clients. Patty Avery, CFPB financial empowerment program specialist and curriculum designer, described the purpose of the CFPB and its reasons for creating “Your Money, Your Goals.” She also walked workshop participants through tools and resources available at www.consumerfinance.gov.
“Your Money, Your Goals” is to help case managers and other staff work with clients to make decisions that can help them reach their goals, fix their credit reports, avoid traps when choosing financial products, keep track of their income and bills, plan for major purchases, save for emergencies, and other topics. The 342-page toolkit is available to download for free; it’s also available in Spanish.
The CFPB, a federal agency, was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis.
Margaret Sherraden, CSD faculty director of Financial Capability, Gena McClendon, CSD project director of Financial Capability & Asset Building (FCAB), and Lissa Johnson, CSD project director of Youth Development, also presented at the workshop.