CDCU's to increase work for financial literacy

NEW YORK – Money from the American Express Economic Independence Fund will support an effort by the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (NFCDCU) to further financial literacy. The Federation will use a $30,000 grant from the Fund to fund a Financial Literacy Day in New York City on October 18 and to train volunteers and staff from New York area CDCUs to be better able to teach credit union members about personal finance. Thirty CDCU’s spread across New York City serve more than 40,000 members in communities including Bedford-Stuyvesant, the Lower East Side, Central and East Harlem, Washington Heights, and the South Bronx. “The Financial Literacy Day celebrations will officially launch our `train-the-trainer’ program,” said NFCDCU Executive Director Cliff Rosenthal. “During the next two years we will build a corps of more than 100 skilled instructors, who will conduct financial literacy classes for thousands of low-income and other consumers of all ages.” Eighteen non-profit organizations across the country received grants totaling $500,000 from the American Express Foundation. American Express is also a corporate sponsor of Financial Literacy Day.