Boys & Girls Club hosting financial program for adults
The Boys & Girls Club of Northwest Georgia is going the extra mile to help the children they serve, as well as their families as a whole.
The Family Financial Empowerment program came about as a result of their financial literacy program for their teenaged students.
CEO J.R. Davis explained many of the students in their after-school programs were saying their parents d idn’t know how to do a lot of things they were teaching, such as budgeting, setting up savings and other important financial skills.
“We realized we needed to start sharing these same techniques and financial lessons to our adults as well,” Davis said.
For the past three years, the nonprofit has been working with adults in the area in regard to their financial literacy and helping them become more fiscally responsible.
The program is free and is funded by Chick-fil-a, as well as other grants.
“We pay for dinner, childcare and teach them lessons,” Davis said. “I’m a certified financial coach with the (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.), but we have many contributors from the community come in.”
Local bankers, real estate agents and lawyers come in to talk to the attendees and answer any questions they may have about their specific field.
“Folks can make new relationships because what we’ve found is that folks who are lower income don’t usually work with banks and are often intimidated going inside one... but through this class, they actually got to meet someone personally who works there and it’s not as intimidating,” Davis said.
The participants have to come to five out of the six classes to graduate and potentially do phase two, which offers other benefits, such as a financial coach for a year.
The Boys & Girls Club has also partnered with other nonprofits, such as the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority and Restoration Rome, and offered the program to their residents and patrons.
To sign up for the program, you can call 706-234-8591 or visit their office at 211 E. Main St.
“
We realized we
needed to start sharing these same
techniques and financial lessons to our adults as well.”
J.R. Davis