Financial Education for All

What We’re Celebrating during National Financial Literacy Month

At CUNY SPS, we believe that learning is not limited to students seeking a degree. One unique unit at our school is focused solely on workplace learning and training. Known as the Office of Professional Education and Workplace Learning (PEWL), this office designs and offers custom workplace learning programs to help organizations achieve their goals. PEWL works with city government agencies and nonprofits, among others, to provide online as well as in-classroom curriculum development and implementation.

PEWL’s many programs are continually evolving to meet the needs of today’s workers. In this month’s spotlight, we look at an adult financial literacy learning and coaching initiative for shelter staff.

National Financial Literacy Month is celebrated each April in an effort to highlight the importance of financial literacy and establishing and maintaining healthy financial habits.

As this month’s observance comes to a close, CUNY SPS’s PEWL unit is pleased to note the early impacts of a program created to ensure that professionals working with people experiencing homelessness can offer them information and advice about how to spend and save their money.

Known as the DHS Financial Independence Now (FIN) Learning and Coaching Program, this training was developed by PEWL in partnership with the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and the nonprofit Change Machine.

As part of the program, PEWL staff work closely with DHS professionals to provide them with the tools to lead conversations with their clients about personal finances, including how to check credit scores and reports, as well as find no-cost or low-cost banking services.

“DHS FIN teaches both frontline shelter staff and directors how to embed financial coaching practices into the daily work they do with individuals and families experiencing homelessness. It gives them practical tools and strategies to help them feel more confident when talking with clients about their finances and steps they can take to start saving money regularly, even if at small amounts, to prepare to ultimately transition to permanent housing,” said Rebecca Brown Cesarani, senior program director.

Originally developed as a two-day interactive classroom-based learning experience before pivoting to an online version during the pandemic, the DHS FIN (Financial Independence Now) program provides shelter case managers/housing specialists with practical strategies for providing “light-touch” financial coaching and referral assistance to their clients. The training session incorporates scenarios, role-play, and other learner engagement activities to cover such topics as:

• Working with clients to set financial goals
• Helping clients to create spending and savings plans
• Connecting clients to no/low cost banking services
• Assisting clients with reviewing credit scores and reports
• Sharing strategies with clients for managing credit and debt
• Referring clients to free financial counseling services for more in-depth assistance

Since the program’s launch in Fall 2018, the DHS FIN has had remarkable reach.

By the end of April, over 688 shelter and DHS agency staff — including shelter case managers, housing specialists, directors, and DHS program administrators and analysts — will have received training on how to coach clients to set financial goals, develop spending and savings plans, and manage credit and debt.

Past participants of the DHS FIN program report that the program has been very useful. In a survey offered to case manager and housing specialists course attendees a few months after their virtual training sessions, more than half noted that the DHS FIN guides and worksheets were ‘very helpful.’ Others reported that they now have richer and more frequent conversations with clients about their finances and feel more confident and better informed while having those talks.

“The learner feedback we have received since the program launched in the fall of 2018 has been consistently positive,” Brown Cesarani added. “And, it is so great to hear concrete examples from case managers and housing specialists who have completed the course about how they are using what they have learned back on the job. They are truly helping clients to make progress toward their goals!”

Emboldened by this success, the program plans to expand to all of the agency’s approximately 200 shelters across all five boroughs.

“In the upcoming fiscal year, we plan to continue to offer the DHS FIN training virtually, which includes both virtual live-instruction, as well as self-paced interactive learning components, to DHS case managers and housing specialists, and shelter leadership from approximately 80 Families with Children shelters,” said Jennifer DePalma, program director. “We look forward to providing shelter staff with customized tools and training activities that can be used in their day-to-day work with clients to become financially secure, and transition into permanent housing.”

Visit our website to read more stories about PEWL and its programs.