Common Wealth Symposium: Improving Financial Education

Posted by on May 14, 2007

Common Wealth Symposium: Improving Financial Education

Throughout Pennsylvania there are hundreds of resources to help people learn to better manage and protect their money. Community-based organizations, churches, civic groups, senior centers, libraries, cooperative extension offices, consumer credit agencies, youth initiatives, family savings account providers, entrepreneurship assistance programs, insurance companies, financial institutions and others often use financial education as one of many tools to achieve their goals. Some programs are comprehensive and sophisticated. Others are informal and customized. Such variation is critical because people have different learning styles, unique values and diverse needs throughout their lifetimes.

The Pennsylvania Office of Financial Education, works to increase the quality and availability of financial education across the state, will sponsor its first Common Wealth Symposium, designed to begin to identify a statewide community of organizations that offer any kind of financial education; to share information among peers with regard to effective strategies in delivering financial education; and to identify common challenges among those who incorporate financial education in their work.

At the Symposium, sessions are being planned to consider: how for-profit and non-profit entities can collaborate; how to market financial education; how to effectively teach adults; where to find high-quality, low-cost curriculum and much more.

The 2-day event will be held on Tuesday, June 12 from Noon to 5pm and Wednesday, June 13, from 8am to 3:30pm at the Harrisburg Crowne Plaza Hotel. The registration fee is $75.00, which will be returned to participants upon completion of the symposium and its evaluation form. For more information, visit http://www.moneysbestfriend.org or contact Ren? Bryce-Laporte at 717.783.2498 or rblaporte@state.pa.us.