By Dustin Tyler Joyce
December 17, 2007

The Mayors’ National Dollar Wi$e Campaign, the financial-education outreach effort of The United States Conference of Mayors, worked with Citigroup (Citi) to promote financial literacy at two events across the country November 16-17. The events, part of Citi’s annual Global Community Day, took place in St. Louis and Wilmington (DE). In both cities, Citi employees worked with the staff of local governments and nonprofit organizations to reach out and educate the public on the wise management of personal and family finances.

“Citi has a strong commitment to supporting financial education efforts and educated consumers. During our November Global Community Volunteer Day, we were proud to work with The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the mayors of Wilmington and St. Louis to bring financial education to their constituents,” said Dara Duguay, Director of Citi’s Office of Financial Education.

“Purses to Portfolios: Delaware Women Take Charge of Their Money” took place at the Wilmington campus of Delaware Technical and Community College. Almost 75 participants learned of ways to better manage their money.

Tanya Washington, deputy chief of staff for Mayor James M. Baker, welcomed the audience on the mayor’s behalf. “It’s always good to ‘pay yourself’ first, to build up a reserve in case things happen,” Washington advised. “That’s helped me out tremendously in terms of not getting into more debt and not having to borrow—which is something I really can’t afford to do.”

Some participants shared how they got into debt. One woman related that her husband had a gambling addiction that ate into their assets. Another got into trouble when she got divorced; she wanted to continue living the lifestyle she had maintained when married but didn’t have the income to do so.

Other participants shared their tips for saving money on the costs of everyday goods, including food and other items. Those in attendance were encouraged to get a “frequent'shopper” card for every store they went to on a regular basis and take advantage of the discounts the stores offer to cardholders. Attendees were also encouraged to buy store brands, instead of name-brand items.

One instructor, Alisha Thompson-Adams, related an experience with that advice to buy store brands in a previous class she had taught years ago. When told to buy store brands, one participant in the earlier class objected, saying that she could never get her children to accept store-brand breakfast cereal, or any other store-brand item for that matter. Another participant explained a way to get around that problem: retain the name-brand packaging, put the store-brand products inside, and kids will never know the difference.

Citigroup employee Terri Hasson concluded the instruction by explaining the components of an individual’s credit score.

Beaumont High School hosted over 100 volunteer Citi employees for “Get Smart About Credit Day” November 16. “I have rarely seen such enthusiasm during a learning event but it was evident during the financial education event at Beaumont. The staff from CitiMortgage should be commended for volunteering their time to provide this much needed information to these youth,” observed Tom Jones, Executive Director of the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment, who represented Mayor Francis Slay at the event.

Students began the day in classes where they learned from Citi employees about building and maintaining a good credit rating.

From there, students met with Citi employees, school faculty, and Tom Jones of St. Louis in a town hall meeting. Principal Travis Brown spoke about Missouri’s new requirement that high'school students take a semester of financial education and how that would impact students at Beaumont, which is home to the Academy of Finance magnet school. Brown, together with CitiMortgage President Bill Beckmann and Jones, spoke about the importance of and their own personal experiences with credit.

For more information on the Mayors’ National Dollar Wi$e Campaign, contact Dustin Tyler Joyce at 202-861-6759 or send e-mail to dollarwise@usmayors.org. Also, visit the website at dollarwiseonline.org.