Banking and Checking

Welcome back to the third week of Beyond the Bank series!

 It has been an awesome two weeks, and we want to continue to ride the momentum we started back on our first day of class!! This week's class had a rocky start, but it all worked out in the end.

We ran into some difficulty at the start of class. One of our financial instructors encountered some difficulties coming to our location, and couldn't attend the course. Instead, we had the USC undergraduates run the class. The USC undergraduates were absolutely stellar. They did a quick little icebreaker for the group to get to know each other more, and then they broke the class up into their small groups. Because this week's subject was Banking and Checking, the USC undergraduates discussed different banks (and different kinds of banks) with the Right Way students. The USC undergraduates led their small group discussions and asked the Right Way students what kind of banks they all want to use. Ultimately the discussions led to the USC undergraduates sharing their experiences with their bank accounts and why those accounts fit them well.

As the weeks go on, it's great seeing the Right Way students open up more to the USC undergraduate. Due to so many factors that make up the higher-education arena and the foster care system, these two groups of students would never meet one another in an academic setting. Now that Beyond the Bank program is in full swing, these two groups of students have a platform to educate one another in both financial literacy and life experiences.

Even though we ran into a roadblock at the beginning of class, it ended really well! I'll see you all next week!

A group of students in their break out session.

Proecting themselves with Consumer Rights

Welcome back to the second week of this season's Beyond the Bank series!!

It's good to be back in the swing of things, and we're so eager to document this course with you all!

Last night's lecture was taught by different Capital Group representative, Daniel. Like Aaron, Daniel was with us in the first round of Beyond the Bank series as well and helped the USC undergraduates answer some difficult technical questions throughout the course. His lesson last night covered consumer rights and protective laws.

This time around we also wanted to tailor all of the lesson plans for the Right Way students and make sure we cover material that is relevant to the real world. With that in mind, Daniel engaged the class in identifying loan packages, start-up fees, and potential threats to their financial well-being (more specifically, loan packages that are considered to be "too good to be true"). To compliment this information, the USC undergraduates went over various advertisements to different loans and discussed in their small groups whether or not it would be beneficial to apply for them and if they were scams.

The Right Way students are still engaged and love the information we are delivering to them! It was yet again a great night!

Daniel, our Financial Instructor, giving out tips on how to protect your financial well-being.

Beyond the Bank Round 2

Hello from LIFT-LA!

Now that the Summer months are behind us, it is time for another cycle of Financial Literacy courses! We have teamed up again with the USC Joint Educational Project, the Right Way Foundation and Capital Group to make this course even better . If you need a refresher, here is a link to our first blog entry explaining the beginning of our Financial Literacy course!

After completing the first round of Financial Literacy courses earlier this year, we made some small adjustments to deliver the best quality education we can give to the TAY at the Right Way Foundation. For the first cycle of Financial Literacy courses, the USC undergraduates taught the class and the Financial Experts supported the students by answering any difficult technical questions that may arise. This time around we have slightly reversed that model; the Financial Experts teach the class while the USC undergraduates support the Financial Experts. When we rolled out our first round of Beyond the Bank courses we wanted the USC undergraduates to deepen their relationship with their peers, the Right Way Foundation students. To do that, we carved out time in the course for the two groups of young adults to talk about their experiences with personal finances. This is the class breakdown:

The first 30 minutes of  class is instruction by the Financial Expert, and for the last 20-30 minutes the class breaks out into small -group discussions lead by our USC undergraduates. Each of our undergraduates will have 3-5 students and as a group they will go over various activities (talk about the lecture, fill out budgeting worksheets, going over different loan situations, etc).

With all the plans in place, it was time to begin the program! Last night was our first class for the second round of Beyond the Bank, and it was a complete success!!

Aaron, one of two of our Financial Instructors for this cycle, opened up the class with a simple question: "If you had a choice between taking $100,000 today or accepting a single penny today and then having the penny double every day for 30 days, which would you select?"

Most of the people in the room (USC undergraduates, LIFT staff, the Right Way students), confidently chose the $100,000. After letting everyone choose their sides, it was revealed that choosing the penny would eventually equal to over $5.3 million dollars at the end of 30 days! With a stunned class, Aaron began his first lesson on saving and budgeting.

The Right Way students were still stunned at the answer and were really intrigued on how they could create a budgeting plan to save their money. Aaron went over the basics of saving and budgeting, and told the Right Way students that once they become wealthy, they will hire other organizations to help budget their money. After the lecture, the USC students broke the class up into small groups and they all discussed helpful tips on trying to save and budget their income.

Overall, it was a wonderful night. The Capital Group engaged the students and spoke about financial issues and tools that were relevant to their lives. The USC undergraduates were able to speak to their peers in a relatable way and began to form connections with the Right Way Students.

It's just the beginning of Beyond the Bank part 2! We hope to see you next week!!

Aaron, one of two of the Financial Instructors, asking the class which would they rather have; $100,000 now or a penny that would double for the next 30 days

The few students who chose the penny.

Last Day of Class

It happened! We made it! Today was the last day of the class, and it was such a powerful and fun event tonight!!

As mentioned in the previous entry, our last class was held at the USC campus. The JEP program reserved a space and allowed us to see parts of their beautiful campus.

With excitement in the air, the USC students coordinated a great lesson plan with a final "Jeopardy" game to end the class. The vast majority of the class covered identity theft and how this can affect a person's financial well-being. Unfortunately, there was a student in our class who recently fell victim to identity theft. The students had a ton of questions on how someone can prevent and recover from identity theft since their information in the Foster Care system is frequently passed along from one organization to the next. Our Financial Experts from the Capital Group frequently chimed in with their hints, tips and tricks on how to properly protect sensitive information from identity thieves.

Because the discussion was so lively and every person in the room was engaged, we didn't have time for the Jeopardy game.

One of the directors of the JEP Program with closing remarks.

USC Undergraduates going over the statistics of victims of identity theft.

Instead of playing the final game, we finished up the lesson plan and had our small graduation ceremony! The Transitional Aged Youth were incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn about topics they never really were exposed to. As a part of the ceremony, the USC JEP program, the Right Way Foundation and LIFT-Los Angeles awarded each participant with a certificate of completion! Check out one of our pictures below!

 It was a powerful moment in the room. Many of these TAY community members haven't been given the opportunity to prove themselves in their young lives. Having the opportunity to participate in this class with powerful minds in the financial market is something they could not have accessed until the Right Way Foundation, USC JEP and LIFT-LA developed this pilot program.

We also wanted to take some moments to honor and thank our Financial Experts! Thanks to our Financial Experts' dedication to the community, we were able to successfully deliver quality information to the TAY students. They have helped in every single class to make sure the correct details and and information were properly being introduced to the students. They were a huge asset to this program, and the program wouldn't have been a success without their contributions. We have made the Financial Experts honorary LIFTers! Check out their nifty new shirts below!

Lastly, we ended the class with an invitation to the TAY students. Now that they received quality information from this Financial Literacy course, we invited them to come into the LIFT-LA office and learn how to apply what they learned. Some have said they wanted to save up for a car. Some have said they wanted to save up money for college courses. Some have said they wanted to invest! They were all so excited to receive their certificates and stipends, and we wanted to help them form specific goal plans on how to properly use their money and reach their financial goals. A couple of students have already signed up with LIFT, and we are looking forward to working with them!

Thank you all for keeping up with this blog!! Now that our pilot has finished, we are so eager to implement our new cycle of financial literacy courses. We received so much interest from the Capital Group that they would like to teach some classes themselves! It was a successful program, and we are excited to start the new cycle soon.

Lots of love and warmth from Sunny SoCal,
LIFT-LA

Fourth Day of Class

As we near the end of the course, there was a nervous excitement within the class. The USC undergraduates wanted to go through not only their curriculum but also expand on the topics the TAY community members brought up. The TAY community members and the Financial Experts knew there was so much to learn but very limited time left in the course. With the sense of urgency and passion to complete this course the fourth day of class flew by.

The USC undergraduates taught topics in risk, investments, stocks and bonds. With such broad topics with real-world applications the TAY students were engaged and curious throughout the class. Since some of the TAY students expressed interest in investing in stocks and government bonds, our Financial Experts were there to give out tips and advice in this complicated topic.

With lively discussions on such broad and complicated topics all groups were engaged throughout this particular class! The USC undergraduates came to the class extremely prepared with various hand-outs and exercises to help make their points clear and concise.

Our last day of class is next week, which means it's also our graduation ceremony! Because we wanted to give the Transitional Aged Youth a glimpse into USC, we decided to have our last class on their campus. Some of the students have said they want to go to college, more specifically at USC. What a perfect way to end our class with a tour of one of the most prestigious universities in the nation!

It has been a great course so far, and we're excited to see where this course will end next week! Stay tuned!!

best,
LIFT-LA

Third Day of Class

Hello all!

Thank you so much for checking out our blog and reading our updates of our pilot program!! As the 3rd day of class rolled out we noticed the energy levels in the class dip a bit. Students were engaged with the topics of loans and interest rates, but the technicalities of the subject confused some of the students. It wasn't until the USC undergraduates framed the subjects in a way that was applicable to the students; the proverbial light-switch turned on and we were back in business!

As mentioned above the vast majority of our class today focused on loans, interest rates, and a review from last week (credit). The USC students felt more comfortable delivering the information and answering questions this time around, so they didn't turn to the Financial Experts as much as they had the previous lessons.

Speaking of which, we were granted yet another Capital Group volunteer to add to our Financial Expert cohort! All together, we have a cohort of 4 Financial Experts!! They're a small but mighty bunch! It is comforting having them in our classroom as the lessons plans are being implemented. We want the Transitional Aged Youth to not only receive guidance in their finances but also quality information. Knowing we have experts from the Capital Group there with us  to answer questions and clarify often confusing topics is a great asset to the quality of the course.

Even though the beginning of the class was a bit confusing for the TAY community members, they came away from this class more informed about the lesson and looked forward to more guidance from the USC undergraduates and our Financial Experts.

Check out a picture from tonight's class!

Second Day of Class

With a great start to our financial literacy course, both the students and the financial experts were ready at the go for our second day of class.

The USC undergraduates from the JEP program had a better grasp of teaching the students at the Right Way Foundation. They touched on topics like the differences between a debit card and a credit card, how to build credit and how to read a credit report. Like the first class, a lot of questions popped up that would potentially veer the class in a different direction. We compiled a "parking lot" list and decided to build on these questions as the course went on throughout the month.

Also, we received more interested volunteers from the Capital Group this week! In our first class we had one Financial Expert from the Capital Group, but this week we have two more volunteers! It's so great to know our work is sparking an interest in the Capital Group's employees.These Financial Experts truly are making a difference in our community, and we were so happy to have them there with us. There were moments during the class when the USC undergraduates could not answer specific questions concerning credit, so our Financial Experts at the Capital Group stepped up to help teach that portion of the course.

It was a great day, and we were glad we were still riding that wave of determination and thoughtfulness we experienced our first day of class last week.

Stay tuned for another update with our course!

best,
LIFT-LA