Professionals the Greene County Board of Education shown here at Money Smart Training at Branch Heights sponsored by the Greene/Sumter EC and other community associations.

The Greene/Sumter Enterprise Community, FDIC, Branch Heights Housing Authority, the Greene County Board of Education, the Black Belt Community Foundation and the Alabama Asset Building Coalition hosted the FDIC Money Smart Train-The-Trainer for Young Adults to a group of 24 professionals from the Greene County Board of Education on Saturday, March 12, 2011 at the Branch Heights Housing Authority Community Center. This free seminar is designed to present the basics of classroom instruction; to enable and empower instructors to deliver approximately one-hour long courses on the FDIC’s Money Smart for Young Adults curriculum to students. The primary purpose is to provide the class participants with tools.

These tools may enhance their skills as a classroom instructor in teaching the modules. The seminar also gave ideas on how to present the Money Smart curriculum. Participants are encouraged to teach one or more of the modules to community members within the next 12 months.
Money Smart for Young Adults is:
*Free; Aligned with educational standards for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Virgin Islands, as well as Jump$tart financial education standards and National Council on Economic Education economic education standards;
*Based on the award-winning Money Smart adult financial education curriculum that can bring proven results in the money management practices and financial confidence of graduates;
*Offers a completely customizable curriculum comprised of modules that can be taught on a stand-alone basis;
*Not protected by copyright restrictions; and A source of unbiased information that is not “branded” with corporate logos or otherwise affiliated with any commercial interest.”
FDIC Community Affairs staff in the Atlanta Region is working in the Black Belt area of Alabama with the two adjoining Gulf Coast hurricane-impacted counties of Mobile and Baldwin.The effort joined with the Alabama Asset Building Coalition (AABC) to form the base for the Alliance for Economic Inclusion (AEI) coalition. The Black Belt AEI rollout event was launched in April 2007 and now has over 50 members. The multi-county initiative utilizes regional team leaders – a financial institution and a community foundation for the south Black Belt; an enterprise community organization in the west Black Belt and university in the east Black Belt. The regions focus on VITA with direct deposit account openings, savings initiatives, financial education and individual development accounts (IDAs).