Continuing Education - September topic: Credit "I heard that..."

Hello Coaches,

On September 21st, we will be talking about common myths and misconceptions that are out there about credit.  We hear many clients say "I heard that ___ will affect your credit. Is that true?" I would love for all of you as coaches to be ready to talk about those "I heard" moments that either a client (or you yourself) has wondered about.

Please feel free to bring your lunch.  We will discuss these common myths as we enjoy our lunches.

I hope to see you there!

Erika Leos

Financial Coaching update - August 29, 2011

Good afternoon Financial Coaches,

First, I would like give a big WELCOME to all our newest Financial Coaches who completed training this month!  We appreciate you joining our team!

As you can see in the Events section, we have a busy month ahead - that is, after taking a break for Labor Day!

EVENTS FOR CLIENTS
Please share the following information with clients who you think might be interested.  Those clients who provided an email address got this information by email.  See details by following the links in the Events section.

• Money Management.  These classes are open to all Financial Coaching clients who would like to learn about credit, debt and saving in a classroom setting. 
• Scholarship Workshops. The workshops will focus on finding and writing essays for scholarship applications.  

EVENTS FOR COACHES

See details by following the links in the Events section.

• Community Tax Center Volunteer Kick off Lunch - Join us for lunch if you or someone you know would like to learn more about becoming a volunteer for the Community Tax Center.
• Continuing Education Workshops for Coaches - In September, we will have a presentation about finding resources on 2-1-1.

OTHER INFORMATION

• Debt in Focus - Try out this great tool for creating debt repayment plan.  It's completely anonymous and all you do is plug in your numbers and it does the math.  The functionality is similar to PowerPay, but with nicer presentation of the results (think colors and graphs!).  Check it out and share with clients!
• The Austin City Council is creating an ordinance to place restrictions on Payday Lenders.  Read about the restrictions in the KXAN report.

Thanks everyone, have a great week!

Erika Leos

Financial Coaching Coordinator

Financial Coaching update - August 15, 2011

CONTINUING EDUCATION SERIES FOR AUGUST
See the Events Section to sign up.

The most any of us know about the child support system is that the client we’re working with is either receiving child support or isn’t.  Please consider joining us to learn more about the child support system from Chris Giangreco of the Attorney General’s office.  Chris will present two sessions – Wednesday, August 17^th at noon, repeated again at 6:30pm.  Both sessions will be held at the Community Financial Center.

In Chris’ hour-long presentation, he will provide an overview of the child support system and talk about how we can make it work best for our clients.  Some of the things he’ll cover are:

·         What you can do to help your client receive child support

·         Where to refer clients when they have issues with their child support case   

·         What clients should do if they have trouble making their child support payments

He’ll allow time for your questions to be answered.  Some of us have heard Chris’ presentation recently – and it’s interesting stuff!  


WEBINARS AVAILABLE FROM MONEY MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL
See Links Section to sign up.


Money Management International has several free webinars coming up that you may be interested in participating in.  The topics are "When income decreases, but the bills don't," "Put your debt on a diet" and "Your credit report and score."


Have a great Monday!


Erika Leos
Financial Coaching Coordinator

Continuing Education - Cash for College recap and future topics

CASH FOR COLLEGE RECAP

The Cash for College program staff and volunteers will help clients fill out the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which will determine whether they’re eligible for the Federal Pell Grant.  The FAFSA will also calculate the client’s Estimated Family Contribution, which is used to determine how much a student qualifies for in other grants, scholarships, student loans and Work Study.  The Cash for College program also serves as a general resource for anyone currently attending or thinking about attending college.  Some of the topics that are often faced by our clients are:

• The temptation to attend for-profit schools.  Many for-profit schools (often vocational or technical schools) are very good at convincing students that the school is perfect for them, often without being clear about the cost.  The reality is that most programs offered by those schools can also be found at Austin Community College for a fraction of the cost.  The Financial Coaching and Cash for College programs do not advise students against attending a for-profit school, but will help students compare all aspects, including cost, time commitment, quality of education, and type of certification/degree attained.
• The difficulty of the registration and financial aid process at Austin Community College.  While ACC can offer a huge cost advantage, for-profit schools have made the process of enrolling and financing very easy.  A for-profit school recruiting agent is always there guiding the client through every step of the way.  That is not the case at ACC.  Some clients get stuck in the process of enrolling at ACC and have a hard time finding someone who can help them keep moving forward.  Clients facing difficulty enrolling at ACC can always call or visit the Cash for College program to get assistance with the enrollment process.
•  Student loan debt.  Some of our clients have huge amounts of student loan debt.  Currently, there is no relief for student loan debt.  It is not dismissible through bankruptcy, and lenders can garnish wages and tax refunds if payment is not made voluntarily.  A new law (HR 2028 Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act of 2011) is being proposed "to amend title 11 of the United States Code to modify the dischargeability of debts for certain educational payments and loans."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

•  The report from the United States Government Accountability Office about for-profit school performance can be found here.
• A New York Times article about for-profit schools can be found here.
• A Washington Post article about legislation that took private lenders out of the federal student loan equation can be found here.

FUTURE CONTINUING EDUCATION TOPICS

August 17, 12-1 pm OR 6:30-7:30 pm:  Child Support

August 31, 9 am-12 pm OR 5-8 pm:  Credit Counselor Training

September:  2-1-1 Community Resources

All of the sessions above will be held at the Community Financial Center.  Sign up today on MyVolunteerPage. 

Thank you everyone for making the Continuing Education series a success!

Regards,

Erika Leos

Financial Coaching Coordinator

Program Updates - July 27, 2011

Hello Financial Coaches, 

SUMMER SCHEDULES

Summer is in full swing and many of us are taking advantage and going on vacation - myself included!  I will be out of the office starting July 28 and I will be back on August 8.  

Please take a moment to log on to MyVolunteerPage.  Having your updated availability on the site will make it much easier for out scheduling helpers while I'm out.  

• Any time that you are available to meet with a new client, please sign up under "I am available"
• If you are on the available schedule and you will be out of town or otherwise not available, please remove yourself from the "I am available" list

If you have any other questions, you can direct them to Courtney Salcedo.

NEW INTAKE PAPERWORK

Starting next Monday, August 1st, all new clients that meet at the Community Financial Center will be filling out the updated intake form (thank you all for your suggestions!) as well as an addendum.  The addendum asks the client for additional information that we are collecting for a pilot project.  The addendum does make the intake paperwork look a little long, but most of the addendum consists of check-box answers.We will be collecting the information on the addendum for the months of August, September and October.  Please bear with us during that time and encourage our clients to fill it out as completely as possible.  

TOUR OUR NEWEST HOUSING PROPERTY

We have a special M-Station tour set up just for us.  Our Design + Development Director is going to meet us on site and give us a tour.  Please meet us at M Station, 2906 E. Martin Luther King Blvd, 78702 on Monday, August 8, at 10 am.  Learn more about this beautiful new housing property on our web site. 

Hope you’ll be able to adjust your schedule to join us!  If you have any questions, please contact Courtney Salcedo, otherwise, we'll see you there!

Thank you!

Erika Leos

Financial Coaching Coordinator

Program Updates July 7, 2011

FINANCIAL COACHING AT AREA NON-PROFITS

We are still looking for volunteers to work with employees of a few local non-profits at the following locations: 

• SafePlace: 1515 Grove. Blvd., 78741
• Meals on Wheels and More: 3227 E. 5^th St., 78702
• LifeWorks: 8913 Collinfield Dr., 78758
• LifeWorks: 4606 Connelly St., 78751
• LifeWorks: 3700 S. 1^st St., 78704
• LifeWokrs: 1910 E MLK Jr Blvd., 78722

Please email Katie.hazekamp@foundcom.org or call 215-1295 if interested in volunteering at any of these locations.


MY VOLUNTEER PAGE

As you may have noticed, MyVolunteerPage got a makeover during the4th of July weekend.  I encourage you to log on and explore the changes as well as do the following:

1.        Update the “My Profile” tab, specifically, the “Basic Info” section

• Update any contact information that may be out of date
• Add a secondary email so you can receive updates at two addresses if you would like
• Add a picture!  Our staff will be better able to connect names with faces.

2.       Sign up for some “I am available” shifts at the Community Financial Center!

•  Click on the “Sign-up” tab
• There are some new columns with symbols for each activity.  Scroll over the column headings and symbols if you would like to see what they mean.  They are referring to you as a volunteer (Q tells you whether you are qualified to perform this activity)
• Click on a time of day that works for you, then check the sign up box for any days that you are willing to meet with a new client.  OR, you can check the box at the top left of the blue box to be added to the backup list.  We’ll contact you if we need a volunteer at that time and can’t find one.

Thank you!

Erika Leos

Financial Coaching Coordinator

Foundation Communities

Phone:  (512) 610-4026

Fax: (512) 916-4420

www.foundcom.org

Continuing Education - Coaching Concepts recap

Hello Coaches,

We had a great conversation around Coaching Concepts at our June Continuing Education session!  Below is a link to the video and materials that we used as well as a recap of the conversation.  I hope you will read through this post, then add your own comments!

MATERIALS


Financial Coaching Strategies from the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
http://fyi.uwex.edu/financialcoaching/learning-to-be-a-coach/

• Watch the second video on this page (about 10 minutes)
• Review "The COACH Model"in the table titled "Training Materials for Future Coaches" 
• Explore the other videos and materials on this web site (The ones listed above are the only ones we discussed during the gathering, but the rest are helpful too!)

DISCUSSION

Below are some of the things we noticed and found value in while watching the video demonstration:

• The coach recognized that the client had already done a lot to manage her finances
• The coach allowed the client to come up with all the ideas and solutions
• The coach provided a recap of each step 
• After identifying what a "10" would look like for the client, the coach asked the client to think of what a "5" would look like
• The exercise was kinesthetic, which accommodates different learning styles

YOUR TURN

Now, it's your turn to tell us what you learned from the video and/or the COACH Model document.  Please take a moment to post a comment so that we can all learn together.

Thank you!

Erika

Erika Leos

Financial Coaching Coordinator

Foundation Communities

Phone:  (512) 610-4026

Fax: (512) 916-4420

www.foundcom.org