Common Cents

The RISE Foundation took their Common Cents program to the East Memphis community on April 10th to help Paragon Bank celebrate National Financial Literacy Week.  Participants were highly engaged and shared many of their reservations and misgivings that they have with starting and keeping a budget going in their households.  

Paragon Bank collaborates with charitable partners and local organizations to bring together financial education resources that communities can discourse with and link up to. These services offer assistance to help reduce debt, increase credit worthiness and lessen financial fatigue.  

RISE facilitated discussions on the basics of Financial Literacy and the benefits of the Save Up program.  Attendees learned of the many ways that Save Up could assist them in building assets such as Home Ownership, Micro Enterprise Development, Computer Systems and Secondary Education.  

Throughout the session topics such as spending plan development, and how often spending plans are created where analyzed.  The RISE Foundation has played a pivotal role as partner in the community with many banks, including Paragon Bank.  Paragon Bank has been so excited to send potential customers to RISE to obtain group and one on one counseling in reference to Saving and Budgeting. 

This seminar was a big success for all that came.  There were many comments made about the trainer Ms. Terrell, most notably “that she was not just engaging but very thorough and informative.”  Paragon looks forward to continuing to do seminars like this for the Memphis community as well as for employees of Paragon.    

Residents of Memphis are clear about one thing, they CAN make a difference in thier lives financially if given the opportunities and resources to do so.  Three classes into the On-Track series reveals that our communities can be improved dramatically with financial literacy and education.  The workshops given cover the topics of creating and maintaining a spending plan and managing credit. 

Memphis Light Gas and Water On-Track classes facilitated by RISE have been very successful at assisting customers with stimulating learning techniques and relevant financial education skills. Class participants are engaged and full of questions about how credit is established, accumulated and analyzed.  As with so many groups like these, RISE is pleased to be able to help participants with their desires to better understand how to manage the money that comes into their households. 

RISE is proud of the attendance and positive reception that this collaboration has generated.  Each class session has increased by 10 percent since inception.  Residents who take advantage of the On-Track series are committed to making big changes in thier finances.  In most cases they live in some of the poorest areas of the city.  Almost two-thirds live at or below the poverty line – including a third who scrape by at 50% of the poverty level (less than $12,000 a year for a family of four). More than half are battaling under-employement, while less than half have graduated high school. 

Collaborating with the RISE Foundation was the perfect fit for MLGW because the Common Cents curriculum is designed to meet people where they currently are in their financial struggle. Common Cents is uniquely effective by providing participants with valuable information that enables them to better manage their financial resources and make better financial choices in an environment that is nurturing, peer-guided and inclusive.  

Memphis is proud of the work that MLGW is doing to overcome poverty in our communities. With the help of more companies just like them, the RISE Foundation will be able to introduce more families to the principles of utilizing a spending plan and designing budgets that work through the tough times smarter.