What to Know
Cost: No cost to participants. $50 stipend awarded upon graduation from the program.
Courses: 3 core classes + 1 supplemental class = 4 total classes
Time Commitment: 15 hours total / up to 4 hours per class
Languages: Arabic, Haitian Creole, Nepali, Russian, Spanish, Somali, and Swahili. Possibility of more languages in the future.
When: spring, summer, and fall
Courses Offered
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Workshop 1 Basic Personal Finance |
Basics of Banking |
Provides training on major types of insured financial institutions; reasons to use a bank; opening and maintaining a bank account; explanation of bank fees and how to write a check; and information about debit card and remittance transfer. |
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Workshop 2 Basic Personal Finance |
Credit Score and Credit Report |
Provides training on the purpose of a credit report and how to understand a credit score; the benefits of a good credit score, and ways to build and repair your credit history; and information on how to guard against identity theft. |
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Workshop 3 Basic Personal Finance |
Budgeting |
Provides training on setting financial goals; tracking daily spending; preparing a personal spending plan to monitor income and expenses; suggestions on ways to decrease spending and increase income, and tools to help manage bills. |
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Workshop 4 Supplemental Training |
Buying a Home |
Provides information about the pros and cons of renting and owning a home; how to determine if one is ready to buy a home and the steps in purchasing a house; information about different mortgage options; and how taxes and insurance will affect the monthly payment of a house. |
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Supplemental Training |
Borrowing Basics |
Provides information about various types of installment loans; questions one can ask when buying a car; information about microloans for small businesses; how home equity loans work; and how to guard against predatory lending practices. |
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Supplemental Training |
Starting a Business |
Provides information about steps to take to start a small business; how to develop a business plan and where to get money to finance a business; what is a microloan; and how to understand the basics of the business loan request. |
About FLN
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3 Major Goals |
3 Tools for Success |
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•To increase financial knowledge among refugees and immigrants, thus helping them build relationships with insured institutions, protect their savings, and benefit from credit and other financial services and products. •To develop appropriate training tools that bridge gaps in language and culture. •To build strong partnerships among financial institutions, government agencies, private foundations, nonprofits, and community-based organizations. |
•Industry-recognized training and evaluation material based on curricula from the FDIC, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the National Endowment for Financial Education, and Michigan State University. •Customized workshops led by financial experts, aided by skilled interpreters and using handouts translated into participants’ languages. •Surveys yielding everything from demographic data to measurements of knowledge gains and satisfaction. Over 1,000 surveys were tabulated. |