Making A Difference

Girls Inc.
FPA GHV Pro Bono Committee

Although girls and boys understand equally well that taking responsibility and working hard bring financial success, girls feel less confident about managing money, according recent Harris survey.

Ann Herrero, CFP®, chair of the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) Greater Hudson Valley Pro Bono committee, has set out to help change that. For three years, she and 20 other FPA volunteers have been financially empowering” hundreds of high school girls and their moms.

They’re teaching at financial literacy events set up by a local chapter of Girls Inc., a 146-year-old national non-profit youth organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be “strong, smart and bold.” Most of the girls the organization serves come from low income families headed by women, which represent nearly a third of all U.S. households.

The Girls Inc. website says the vast majority of girls growing up today can expect to spend most of their adult lives in the labor force and many will support families on their income alone. The ability to use basic economic concepts to make decisions about saving, sharing and making money is a skill – just like reading and writing.

Herrero, a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, her committee members and other FPA volunteers, participate in events where mothers and daughters come together both for joint and break-out sessions. Girls Inc. provides materials for the girls; the FPA’s main role is to conduct sessions for the moms.

“We’ve been getting really good feedback from the moms,” said Herrero.

Also impressed: the Foundation For Financial Planning, which gave $15,000 to Girls Inc.

Upcoming on Herrero Card:

1. Financial Helpline
After seeing FPA chapters conduct successful telephone financial helplines in New York City and New Jersey, Gary Brown, director of the NY State Consumer Protection Board, picked up on the idea. He contacted Ann Herrero. Result: One of three call centers will be in Hawthorne, Westchester County, where Greater Hudson Valley FPA members will man the phones during the first week of October, which is also Financial Planning Week. The other two centers will be in New York City and Albany.

2. Worksite Education
Herrero is in discussions with the United Way of Westchester County to have FPA volunteers conduct financial literacy sessions at manufacturing facilities, offices and other worksites.
“Folks would stop by after work for financial education,” she said.

FA

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