Progress 07/01/23 to 06/30/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Although no participants were reached during this reporting period due to this being a planning year (CYFAR), the target audiences for this project are limited-resource families and high-risk youths. The project supports the overall skill development of at-risk parentsof any age and their (childrenages4-10) throughhigh context(weekly) programming in money management at three community sites in high poverty-stricken areas in Madison and Greene counties. The project focuses on delivering a financial literacy program to agroup sizeof 20 adults and 20 or more children per site, which will ensure at least 60 parents and their children per year from these high-risk areas. Participation in the program is determined by the child's age (4 - 10 years) and one of the following criteria: Participation in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Residence in government-assisted housing. The child qualifies for free lunch. These limited-resource parents and their children are targeted because they are less likely to be financially literate, and having a poor financial foundation not only causes family stress that negatively impacts children's development but also influences their future success as adults. Teaching financial skills to children is crucial to helping them grow into adults who achieve financial security and success, thereby helping to break the vicious cycle of poverty. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided the opportunity for the PI, co-PI, and the Technology Specialist to attend the CYFAR Professional Development Event 2023, held in Phoenix, Arizona, from May 22 - May 24. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To carry out objective one, which relates to increasing parents' knowledge and skills in personal finance, adult participants (parents) will be taught various financial topics and complete experiential learning activities to reinforce the knowledge and skills related to the topic.A pretest and posttest will be administered by the facilitators or the site coordinators at the start and at the end of the project. The students (graduate and undergraduate) will code and enter the data into SPSS. The PI, co-PI, and graduate student will run various statistical analyses and report the findings. To improve parents' skills in teaching their children about money (objective two), the parent and children facilitators will work very closely at the end of each session to help parents work with their children. Each facilitator will allow time at the end of each session to explain and demonstrate to parents different strategies that they can use as they go through their everyday activities. To carry out objective three, which relates to increasing the children's financial knowledge and skills, the children in the project will be taught different money management activities. In order to provide opportunities for parents to spend more quality time with their children (objective three) at least twice during the project period, the project participants will be invited to participate in a family activity (e.g., bowling, skating, picnic in the park, etc.). Similarly, project parents, advisory board members, and community leaders will plan and implement one large community event for families (objective 5). The parent facilitators will train parents on using PowerPay software to help reduce their debt, and the child facilitator will use technology throughout the training to get children to interact with money. These activities will ensure that objective six is carried out. The experience that the PI has had with implementing the FLIP curriculum to clients of ELI Thrive who are very similar to those who will be participating in the project, will guide the PI in training the facilitator in how to make their examples more relevant and not make the adult participant feel incompetent because of not knowing or not practicing certain financial skills.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Because year one is designated as a planning year (CYFAR), no project implementation has started. However, the various planning activities have been accomplished. During the months of July 1 through October 6, the PI, Co-PI, and the Technology Specialist met with the administrators and personnel or key stakeholders at each of the three sites to discuss and finalize the setup and needed equipment for the rooms that will be used throughout the project. Individuals throughout the various communities have been invited by the Co-PI to join a project Advisory Board in the three communities. The first Advisory Board meeting for each of the sites will take place in March 2024. The PI, Co-PI, and the Technology Specialist met with the three site administrators to discuss the procedures that will be used in carrying out business procedures for each project site. The PI and Co-PI met with the Vice-President of Retail Market Manager for Synovus Bank- Huntsvillein August to discuss the policies and procedures pertaining to the setup of client accounts. The Vice-President agreed to take the lead in ensuring the project participants understood the stipulations of the given bank account. She agreed to also be fully responsible for handling project participants' information. Specifications of equipment needed for each of the three sites have been determined, and the equipment has been identified. Currently, the Technology Specialist is collaborating with the site administrators regarding ordering and procuring the sites' supplies and equipment. An informational flier has been created to inform the communities about the upcoming project (see attachment). Also, a registration form (see attachment) has been created for use in determining if the individuals requesting to participate in the program meet the requirements (low-income status with a young child or children). Also, a survey for assessing project participants' interaction with their children about money (pretest and posttest) has been developed (see attachment). Similarly, a pretest and posttest survey were created to assess adult participants' financial knowledge (see attachment). This financial knowledge survey was pilot-tested with a group of ELI Thrive clients who received training on the FLIP curriculum. Based on comments received from the clients, the wording of two of the questions was modified, and one question was removed as a means of ensuring that the questions were clear, specific, and unambiguous (validity). Being that this is a planning year for the project, the majority of the work is being completed on schedule. The only work moving slower than planned is ordering and receiving equipment for the sites. This is due to logistical issues that are out of our control.
Publications
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