1
Money Smart News Spring 2005
IN THIS ISSUE
Message from the Chairman
Crime Prevention Through Fi-
nancial Education: How Money
Smart Partners Are Working To
Make Communities Safer
The FDIC Is Working To Turn
Taxpayers into Smart Banking
Customers
Money Smart Success Stories
Money Smart: Get Involved!
Partner News
Message from the Chairman
The main goal of the FDIC’s Money Smart education program is to help low- to mod-
erate-income Americans, new immigrants and other adults outside the
financial mainstream enhance their money management skills. We’re
very gratified by the results, especially in terms of the number of people
taking a Money Smart class (more than 300,000 since 2001) and open-
ing new bank accounts (about 40,000). And among the more rewarding
and surprising aspects of our work is knowing that organizations not generally asso-
ciated with banking are partnering with the FDIC to offer Money Smart to their con-
stituents. In this issue of our newsletter we give you some of the latest examples.
Inside you’ll read about law enforcement agencies, court systems, prisons and com-
munity development groups that are using Money Smart to help prevent crime and
revitalize neighborhoods. How can a financial literacy curriculum perhaps improve
the safety of our communities? First, by teaching people, including many young
adults, that they can better their lives by saving money to own a home, a business or
engage, not in crime, but in other productive endeavors. Second, Money Smart is
being taught to prison inmates in hopes that they will be better prepared to return to
and contribute to society.
You’ll also find out in our newsletter how the FDIC and the IRS are working together
to promote banking relationships and a Money Smart financial education among peo-
ple eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a special tax benefit for low- or moder-
ate-income families.
The more the FDIC promotes Money Smart to the American people the more our
staff appreciates the many different ways to help people achieve their dreams, what-
ever they may be. I want to express my thanks to our Money Smart partners for their
resources, creativity and hard work in support of financial education. I also invite oth-
ers who are not yet our partners -- including organizations from many different fields
-- to consider joining with the FDIC in helping America’s families and communities
become safer and stronger
Money Smart News Spring 2005
IN THIS ISSUE
Message from the Chairman
Crime Prevention Through Fi-
nancial Education: How Money
Smart Partners Are Working To
Make Communities Safer
The FDIC Is Working To Turn
Taxpayers into Smart Banking
Customers
Money Smart Success Stories
Money Smart: Get Involved!
Partner News
Message from the Chairman
The main goal of the FDIC’s Money Smart education program is to help low- to mod-
erate-income Americans, new immigrants and other adults outside the
financial mainstream enhance their money management skills. We’re
very gratified by the results, especially in terms of the number of people
taking a Money Smart class (more than 300,000 since 2001) and open-
ing new bank accounts (about 40,000). And among the more rewarding
and surprising aspects of our work is knowing that organizations not generally asso-
ciated with banking are partnering with the FDIC to offer Money Smart to their con-
stituents. In this issue of our newsletter we give you some of the latest examples.
Inside you’ll read about law enforcement agencies, court systems, prisons and com-
munity development groups that are using Money Smart to help prevent crime and
revitalize neighborhoods. How can a financial literacy curriculum perhaps improve
the safety of our communities? First, by teaching people, including many young
adults, that they can better their lives by saving money to own a home, a business or
engage, not in crime, but in other productive endeavors. Second, Money Smart is
being taught to prison inmates in hopes that they will be better prepared to return to
and contribute to society.
You’ll also find out in our newsletter how the FDIC and the IRS are working together
to promote banking relationships and a Money Smart financial education among peo-
ple eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a special tax benefit for low- or moder-
ate-income families.
The more the FDIC promotes Money Smart to the American people the more our
staff appreciates the many different ways to help people achieve their dreams, what-
ever they may be. I want to express my thanks to our Money Smart partners for their
resources, creativity and hard work in support of financial education. I also invite oth-
ers who are not yet our partners -- including organizations from many different fields
-- to consider joining with the FDIC in helping America’s families and communities
become safer and stronger
2
Money Smart News Spring 2005
Crime Prevention Through Financial Education: How Money Smart Partners Are Working
To Make Communities Safer
Law enforcement and community development organizations increasingly are turning to financial education -- includ-
ing the FDIC’s Money Smart program -- as part of their broader strategies to help reduce crime and revitalize neigh-
borhoods.
“Financial education is not only the key to helping people enter the financial mainstream and achieve their economic
dreams, it also is one answer to the poverty and despair that lead some individuals to turn to crime,” said Lee Bow-
man, the FDIC’s Chief of Community Affairs. “The FDIC takes great pride in knowing that our Money Smart financial
education program is helping to motivate at-risk individuals to improve the quality of life for themselves, their families
and their communities.”
Here’s a look at how some public- and private-sector organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the
National Congress for Community Economic Development (NCCED), are using financial education and Money
Smart to make neighborhoods safer and more economically viable.
Early Intervention to Prevent Crime: Last October, the NCCED, the national trade association for more than
3,600 community development corporations, joined the Money Smart program to encourage its affiliates to teach how
to save money and become more self-sufficient. Crime prevention is a major goal of NCCED’s financial education ef-
forts, including helping people avoid being victimized by high-cost “predatory lenders.”
And on March 25, 2005, the Justice Department’s Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) entered into
a Money Smart partnership. CCDO oversees Justice’s Operation Weed and Seed, which aims to “weed out” violent
crime and “seed in” social services and neighborhood revitalization efforts in more than 300 high-crime neighbor-
hoods. The CCDO will be providing Money Smart classes free of charge to low-income people and families.
Tom Stokes, the FDIC’s Community Affairs Officer in Atlanta, noted that Money Smart and financial education can
play a role in helping young people in particular steer away from crime. “It’s the notion of early intervention -- of involv-
ing them in productive activities where they can learn to save money for education or job goals,” he said. Stokes not-
ed, for example, that the DeKalb County Juvenile Court in Atlanta area has started a program to teach Money
Smart classes to at-risk youth there.
In another example, a New Mexico-based unit of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a nationwide, non-profit
group that works with courts in matters involving abused and neglected children, has begun using Money Smart to
teach money management to adults who, due to their financial troubles, may be inclined to turn their frustrations
against their children. Several area banks are helping to fund the program.
Helping Inmates Reenter Society: Bowman said that about 650,000 prisoners were released in 2004, and re-
cent reports from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) suggest that many of them will be re-arrested within a few
years, sometimes because inmates didn’t receive the proper help or training before returning to society.
“When ex-offenders get out of prison they often have a hard time securing satisfactory employment and receiving
basic financial services such as getting a loan or opening deposit accounts with financial institutions,” Bowman ex-
plained. “Even their right to a driver’s license is suspended. Educational and vocational training are keys to providing
ex-offenders with some of the tools they will need to become productive citizens on the outside.” He concluded that
“ensuring successful re-entry means both safer communities and the improved use of tax dollars.”
That’s why the FDIC was pleased to announce last July an agreement with the FBOP, part of the U.S. Justice Depart-
ment, to use Money Smart to provide financial education to an estimated 10,000 inmates. “Basic financial money
management techniques are vital tools for all segments of our society and can be especially instrumental to an in-
mate’s transition back into the community,” said Donna Gambrell, FDIC Deputy Director for the FDIC’s Division of Su-
pervision and Consumer Protection.
In another example, Operation HOPE, a national organization that seeks to bring economic self-sufficiency to inner-
city communities, joined with the Prisoners Aid Association (PAA), M&T; Bank and other sponsors starting in April
2004 to provide Money Smart classes and financial counseling to PAA clients, both youths and adults, in the Wash-
ington and Baltimore areas.
Money Smart News Spring 2005
Crime Prevention Through Financial Education: How Money Smart Partners Are Working
To Make Communities Safer
Law enforcement and community development organizations increasingly are turning to financial education -- includ-
ing the FDIC’s Money Smart program -- as part of their broader strategies to help reduce crime and revitalize neigh-
borhoods.
“Financial education is not only the key to helping people enter the financial mainstream and achieve their economic
dreams, it also is one answer to the poverty and despair that lead some individuals to turn to crime,” said Lee Bow-
man, the FDIC’s Chief of Community Affairs. “The FDIC takes great pride in knowing that our Money Smart financial
education program is helping to motivate at-risk individuals to improve the quality of life for themselves, their families
and their communities.”
Here’s a look at how some public- and private-sector organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the
National Congress for Community Economic Development (NCCED), are using financial education and Money
Smart to make neighborhoods safer and more economically viable.
Early Intervention to Prevent Crime: Last October, the NCCED, the national trade association for more than
3,600 community development corporations, joined the Money Smart program to encourage its affiliates to teach how
to save money and become more self-sufficient. Crime prevention is a major goal of NCCED’s financial education ef-
forts, including helping people avoid being victimized by high-cost “predatory lenders.”
And on March 25, 2005, the Justice Department’s Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) entered into
a Money Smart partnership. CCDO oversees Justice’s Operation Weed and Seed, which aims to “weed out” violent
crime and “seed in” social services and neighborhood revitalization efforts in more than 300 high-crime neighbor-
hoods. The CCDO will be providing Money Smart classes free of charge to low-income people and families.
Tom Stokes, the FDIC’s Community Affairs Officer in Atlanta, noted that Money Smart and financial education can
play a role in helping young people in particular steer away from crime. “It’s the notion of early intervention -- of involv-
ing them in productive activities where they can learn to save money for education or job goals,” he said. Stokes not-
ed, for example, that the DeKalb County Juvenile Court in Atlanta area has started a program to teach Money
Smart classes to at-risk youth there.
In another example, a New Mexico-based unit of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a nationwide, non-profit
group that works with courts in matters involving abused and neglected children, has begun using Money Smart to
teach money management to adults who, due to their financial troubles, may be inclined to turn their frustrations
against their children. Several area banks are helping to fund the program.
Helping Inmates Reenter Society: Bowman said that about 650,000 prisoners were released in 2004, and re-
cent reports from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) suggest that many of them will be re-arrested within a few
years, sometimes because inmates didn’t receive the proper help or training before returning to society.
“When ex-offenders get out of prison they often have a hard time securing satisfactory employment and receiving
basic financial services such as getting a loan or opening deposit accounts with financial institutions,” Bowman ex-
plained. “Even their right to a driver’s license is suspended. Educational and vocational training are keys to providing
ex-offenders with some of the tools they will need to become productive citizens on the outside.” He concluded that
“ensuring successful re-entry means both safer communities and the improved use of tax dollars.”
That’s why the FDIC was pleased to announce last July an agreement with the FBOP, part of the U.S. Justice Depart-
ment, to use Money Smart to provide financial education to an estimated 10,000 inmates. “Basic financial money
management techniques are vital tools for all segments of our society and can be especially instrumental to an in-
mate’s transition back into the community,” said Donna Gambrell, FDIC Deputy Director for the FDIC’s Division of Su-
pervision and Consumer Protection.
In another example, Operation HOPE, a national organization that seeks to bring economic self-sufficiency to inner-
city communities, joined with the Prisoners Aid Association (PAA), M&T; Bank and other sponsors starting in April
2004 to provide Money Smart classes and financial counseling to PAA clients, both youths and adults, in the Wash-
ington and Baltimore areas.