Goodwill partners with local agencies to offer free financial classes

Staff Report

Goodwill is partnering with local financial providers and not-for-profit agencies in 2012 to offer Good Dollars and Sense, a 12-hour course in financial management offered free of charge to community members. The course will provide participants with the proper skills and knowledge needed to make the best financial decisions and to achieve their personal financial goals.

Goodwill has operated the Good Dollars and Sense program for a little more than one year, helping educate and assist more than 100 participants in the community with topics including saving and investing, budgeting, improving your credit score, housing essentials and more. The courses have been very successful affecting change in families’ financial abilities, with 81 percent of participants increasing their knowledge and financial confidence and 71 percent of participants making positive changes in their finances in just 60 days.

The courses are supported by the United Way of the Rock River Valley and are taught by local financial experts from Alpine Bank, American Family Insurance Brad Streeter Agency, the Better Business Bureau, Blackhawk Bank, Catholic Financial Life, Family Credit Management Services, Generations Credit Union, MembersAlliance Credit Union, Ray of Hope Negotiations Inc., Rockford Area Affordable Housing Coalition, and Savant Capital Management. Goodwill offers a $50 incentive to students who attend all classes and fulfill follow-up requirements for the course.

Good Dollars and Sense classes in Spanish will be held on every Tuesday and Thursday from Jan. 10-26, 2012, from 10 a.m. to noon, or 6 to 8 p.m. Classes in English will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from Feb. 7-23 from 10 a.m. to noon or 6 to 8 p.m. Classes are open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you are interested in signing up for the classes, contact Goodwill at (815) 987-6203 or e-mail goodsense@goodwillni.org.

From the Dec. 28, 2011-Jan. 3, 2012, issue