Hello from Beyond the Bank!
It is a bit rainy here in Southern California, but that's not stopping us from our class!!
Last night was Banking, and it was also Marissa's official debut as our Financial Instructor! The topic we covered was Banking; types of banks we can access, and what do these institutions offer the public.
We first opened the floor for questions from previous lessons. The TAY had some clarifying questions with different subjects (credit, consumer rights, etc), which sparked different conversations in the class. We felt the different conversations were great, since they were all learning moments for the students, but we were also afraid we wouldn't have enough time to cover the actual Banking topic. We wrapped up the side topics and dove right into Banking.
The conversations happened with mixed enthusiasm. There was a lot of things going on with the students, and it's understandable why. First, the students are approaching the end of their program with the Right Way Foundation. It has been about 3 months since they started, so we can see how some of the students might feel a bit tired. Also, there were some students in the class last night who already knew a lot of the subject matter. It could have been a bad situation when the students who did know about some banking might have lost complete interest. Thankfully, we saw that as an opportunity to have the students answer some questions for their peers, thereby making them the default instructors. Conversations were kept alive, and the students left with many takeaways.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera for the evening... so we can't post any pictures from last night's class. But please stay tuned for next week (when we'll definitely have some pictures).
Friday, February 28, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
Consumer Rights
Hello again from Beyond the Bank.
Last night's lecture was all about consumer rights. We wanted to cover specific subjects that would help the TAY protect themselves from various financial predators. The subjects would cover things like questions to consider when opening accounts, getting a loan (predatory lending) and what to do with debt collectors.
Because the TAY and the USC undergraduates are so close in age, the instructors knew this lecture was going to be useful for both of the groups. Both groups of students are just starting off their careers and with that come the responsibilities of shopping around for different financial services and banks. Where should I start? What should I look out for? What can I do to protect myself? These are the exact questions the Financial Instructors wanted to answer when introducing this topic.
Unfortunately, some of the students have fallen prey to some predatory lending, and the instructors wanted to direct them to some agencies that could help the situation. Students asked relevant questions, and the USC undergraduates shared their knowledge and best practices when looking out for "deals" that could potentially hurt them.
Thanks for checking in again with Beyond the Bank! Next week we are going to cover Banking, which will be taught by Marissa. This is her first time teaching the class solo, and we know it's going to be a great session!
Last night's lecture was all about consumer rights. We wanted to cover specific subjects that would help the TAY protect themselves from various financial predators. The subjects would cover things like questions to consider when opening accounts, getting a loan (predatory lending) and what to do with debt collectors.
Because the TAY and the USC undergraduates are so close in age, the instructors knew this lecture was going to be useful for both of the groups. Both groups of students are just starting off their careers and with that come the responsibilities of shopping around for different financial services and banks. Where should I start? What should I look out for? What can I do to protect myself? These are the exact questions the Financial Instructors wanted to answer when introducing this topic.
Unfortunately, some of the students have fallen prey to some predatory lending, and the instructors wanted to direct them to some agencies that could help the situation. Students asked relevant questions, and the USC undergraduates shared their knowledge and best practices when looking out for "deals" that could potentially hurt them.
Thanks for checking in again with Beyond the Bank! Next week we are going to cover Banking, which will be taught by Marissa. This is her first time teaching the class solo, and we know it's going to be a great session!
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| Daniel and Marissa going over Consumer Rights |
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| Small group discussing what to look out for when |
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| All the small groups talking about what they just learned |
Friday, February 14, 2014
Credit with a full house
Happy Valentine's Day!! We hope your day is filled with love on this Hallmark-y day!
Last night at Beyond the Bank we covered credit, and this time it was a full house. I noticed as we continue with this program, we are gaining more and more students. This cycle, at capacity, we have about 30 students from the Right Way, and last night we were at capacity. Students filled the vast majority of our chairs and each one of them were so engaged in our credit conversation.
As you all remember from our previous cycle, all but 3 students attended our credit lecture because the rest of the class attended a job fair that evening. Because this information is so vital to many of the youth in the course, all of them were really engaged in the conversation. A few asked about credit card fraud. Some asked about credit repair. And some wanted clarification about the differences between a credit cards and debit cards. At the end of the class last night, many of the TAY walked away with information they otherwise would have received much later in their lives.
The conversation with the Financial Instructor could have continued throughout the entire class period, but we wanted the USC undergraduates to conduct their small-group discussions; we felt the TAY would benefit more from the small group settings and ask their personal information within that intimate environment.
The USC students picked up where our instructor left off, and the class continued to run smoothly.
Next week is a special occasion for us. Not only are we going to cover consumer rights, but it is also the first time our newest financial instructor, Marissa, will be conducting the class with Daniel. Here's to new beginnings next week! See you all there!
Last night at Beyond the Bank we covered credit, and this time it was a full house. I noticed as we continue with this program, we are gaining more and more students. This cycle, at capacity, we have about 30 students from the Right Way, and last night we were at capacity. Students filled the vast majority of our chairs and each one of them were so engaged in our credit conversation.
As you all remember from our previous cycle, all but 3 students attended our credit lecture because the rest of the class attended a job fair that evening. Because this information is so vital to many of the youth in the course, all of them were really engaged in the conversation. A few asked about credit card fraud. Some asked about credit repair. And some wanted clarification about the differences between a credit cards and debit cards. At the end of the class last night, many of the TAY walked away with information they otherwise would have received much later in their lives.
The conversation with the Financial Instructor could have continued throughout the entire class period, but we wanted the USC undergraduates to conduct their small-group discussions; we felt the TAY would benefit more from the small group settings and ask their personal information within that intimate environment.
The USC students picked up where our instructor left off, and the class continued to run smoothly.
Next week is a special occasion for us. Not only are we going to cover consumer rights, but it is also the first time our newest financial instructor, Marissa, will be conducting the class with Daniel. Here's to new beginnings next week! See you all there!
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| Daniel leading the class on Credit |
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| Credit presentation under our Potencial value |
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| One of the USC students leading a small-group discussion |
Friday, February 7, 2014
Beyond the Bank Round 3
Hello and Happy New Year from Beyond the Bank!!
It has been a couple of months since our last post, and I'm excited to announce our new round of Beyond the Bank!!
Very similar to our last round (which you can find here), we are going to continue to have the Financial Instructors teach the first half of the class and then have the USC undergraduates finish us off by conducting small-group discussions with the Right Way students.
This cycle we had to rearrange some of our topics to fit different schedules. For now, this is our final schedule of topics!
It has been a couple of months since our last post, and I'm excited to announce our new round of Beyond the Bank!!
Very similar to our last round (which you can find here), we are going to continue to have the Financial Instructors teach the first half of the class and then have the USC undergraduates finish us off by conducting small-group discussions with the Right Way students.
This cycle we had to rearrange some of our topics to fit different schedules. For now, this is our final schedule of topics!
Date
|
Class
|
2/6
|
Intro/Budgeting
|
2/13
|
Credit
|
2/20
|
Consumer Rights
|
2/27
|
Banking
|
3/6
|
Saving
|
3/13
|
Investing
|
3/20
|
Wrap-up/Grad.
|
It's another packed schedule, and we are excited to see how each class turns out!! With this set schedule, the Cap Group and LIFT-LA are working close together to figure out which topics can formerly be in our curriculum. With USC's help, we are going to create a stable curriculum so future courses can benefit what we have learned in our classes.
Now, let's talk about the class last night! Like the second round, Aaron kicked-off our class by asking the students a simple question: "If you had a choice between taking $100,000 today or accepting a single penny today and then having that penny double every day for 30 days, which would you select?" And just like the last round, the students were engaged in answering questions and talking about budgeting and saving.
The USC undergraduates interacted well with the students. The Financial Instructors were clear and concise. Overall, it was a successful night!!
Stay tuned for next's week course! We look forward to seeing you there!
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| Break out sessions with the USC students |
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| Students creating budgets for their every day lives |
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