According to many reports, over 50 per cent of Canadians are stressed about money; 42 per cent lack basic skills in financial literacy; 70 per cent are living paycheque to paycheque and debt is rising much faster than income and assets.
Do you need to take control of your finances? Don’t worry; help is out there.
Riding on the back of the success of the financial literacy luncheon in 100 Mile House, momentum for the project is now growing in Williams Lake.
Pledges of support have been received from TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, CIBC, BMO, Williams Lake & District Credit Union, Western Financial Group, Andrea Cass — Mortgage Broker (Invis), PMT Chartered Accountants and RBC.
Donna Whidden, branch manager of TD Canada Trust, is delighted that our community is benefiting from the $99,000 grant awarded to CCPL through the SEDI/TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund. SEDI (Social Enterprise Development Innovations) administers the fund to bring financial literacy programs to communities all across Canada.
Kirsten Stark is looking forward to working with the financial community to address the serious issues surrounding financial literacy. A luncheon event for supporting members of the financial community and representatives from local service organizations will be held on Sept. 15 in Williams Lake.
It will provide an opportunity to discuss the issues at a local level and determine how best to meet the needs of individuals in our community.
The project is offering a variety of services to workplaces and groups that identify they have a need to improve financial literacy skills.
Stark is currently working in collaboration with Child Care Resource and Referral to support a workshop for local daycare providers.
The group has identified a need to improve financial literacy skills in order to operate their small home business more effectively. A series of workshops to be held in Williams Lake have been developed and the topics include budget and money management, home financing, credit/debt, income tax and financial planning. Community Financial Literacy cafés are also being planned and will provide a format for small group discussion and learning. Using the CCPL Partner Assisted Learning model, one-to-one assistance will also be available to individuals in need. More information on all these programs will be coming soon.
At this time Stark would like to invite professionals from the wider financial community (accountants, bookkeepers, financial planners, tax consultants etc) to get involved. To pledge support, register interest for a workplace or group or for more information about the project, contact kirsten@caribooliteracy.com, leave a message at 250-296-4516 or write to Stark at CCPL, P.O. Box 2565, Williams Lake, V2G 4P2.