16, 2936 Radcliffe Drive SE Calgary Alberta T2N 0A2 Tel: (403) 272-9310 ext. 226 roddm@mcca-ed.org
HONOURABLE MENTION FOR 2002
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Employment Development is a Community Economic Development (CED) Organization. For more information on CED organizations click here to go to their website Learn More About CED!
For the last 11 years MCC Employment Development has partnered with the underemployed in Calgary. We apply comprehensive poverty reduction strategies (Community Economic Development) to improve the economic, social and personal well being of low-income Calgarians in 4 programme areas: skills training, entrepreneurship, money management and technology access.
Through working with the underemployed for the past 8 years, it was noted that individuals earning low income often had difficulty managing what financial resources they had. Around the same time, a seminal research publication was made available entitled: " Assets and the Poor", by Michael Sherraden.
Sherraden suggested that issues of poverty should be considered beyond income, but also include financial assets. After a series of discussions with people earning low incomes, the programme was developed to assist the working poor to develop personal money management skills and build assets for the future. This has led to the program described herein: Financial Literacy.
Central to the development of the Financial Literacy Program is the idea that people earning limited incomes have a tremendous propensity toward survival in the most difficult situations. They are skilled and tenacious. Key challenges were the lack of tools to manage resources effectively and plan for the future. It was made evident that when in situations of immediate need, immediate solutions were sought. The aim of Financial Literacy was to avail the tools to view and manage the "big picture" financial status of ones own life and move toward long term goals, while addressing immediate need.
The rise of Financial Literacy programming in our organization has been community-based from its inception. The means of addressing personal finances among the working poor evolved into a multi-faceted package of initiatives that evolved to create a new dimension of performance. The components of the Financial Literacy Initiative as follows:
a) Asset Development
·First in Canada (2 other have been developed since, plus a national demonstration project, all assisted by MCC Employment Development)
·Aimed to increase assets such as education ,business capital, education for a child, and home ownership.
·Each participant saves $15-$45 per month and is matched $3 for every $1 saved for one year
·Participants saving toward home ownership save $45-$90 per month for an additional year and are matched 4:1 toward down payment on a home
·Participants learn critical money management skills
b)Loans for working homeless for security deposit on housing rental
·Only one in Canada
·Addresses problem of 56% of Calgary’s homeless are working
·Gives people opportunity to re-build credit rating
·Has worked with Red Deer to develop similar programme
·Thought to be more sustainable than long term shelters
·Enables people to save for similar emergencies in the future through education around personal money management
c)Money Management for women surviving domestic violence and women in need
·100% delivered in other locations with groups of women
·short course so women can take control of their finances
·has contributed to deeper relationships with community members from all over the city
d)National research initiative: Asset Development
·MCC Employment Development is one of 10 sites in Canada
·Federal government experimenting with model of asset development that MCC Employment Development started in Canada
e)Youth Asset Development
·Aims to break cycle of poverty by developing assets among at-risk youth
·Similar to Adult Asset Development in nature
