An Enchanted Tale

Fairy Tale Endings Start with the Customer In Mind Anusha Gibson - PNC, Patrick Eichholtz, & Carlene Ulacia

Financial Capability for the Princes and Princesses in Your Life Chike Uzoka, Shannon Latimer, & Hassan Thomas

For a generation that consumes all their content through their phones, reliable financial education is hard to find. In an eye-opening discussion, financial educators and practioners will come together to discuss the importance of financial inclusion and the tools available today that can help students become financially literate and capable. As a result of their engagement, participants will learn about financial empathy and teaching techniques for financial educators such as Ficycle and Thrivent Financial that will help the young royals in your life become financially capable and set them up for financial success.

Writing Your Own "Cinderella" Story. Rhonda Little & Lisa Mifflin

As a result of their engagement, participants will learn how to search for and find CRA reports for other institutions. Utilizing this information, participants will be better equipped to learn about opportunities to partner with community development organizations in their market. By going beyond statistics, participants will be able to learn techniques that will add greater value to context documents, particularly CRA reports. The end goal being that participants will increase their ability to really learn to tell the story of what is happening in the market. Therefore, participants will have a greater opportunity to foster and support collaborative partnerships.

A Feasible Fairy Tale: A Measuring and Monitoring Approach to Financial Programs Dr. Andrea Andzenge & Catherine Blanco

A common theme among all fairy tales is that the journey towards a goal is never smooth, with beasts lurking in the shadows, enemies guised as friends, and heroes trapped in castles. However, at the end, the hero shines through! In our session, juxtaposing our monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning(MEAL)processes against well-known fairy tales, we show the power of a MEAL approach in ensuring the success of financial programs. Because of their engagement, participants will learn different strategies for measuring the effectiveness of their programs; they will also receive tools for creating strong effective programs.

Financial Education Works Through the Magic of Partnerships Kim Griffin & Beth Kerr

Financial education can serve as a preventative and prescriptive measure for low-income households. Preventative measures, such as the acquisition of financial knowledge early in life, can help youth responsibly handle their finances as adults. A research-based financial literacy program was implemented in two counties with elevated poverty rates. The program provided financial literacy education to economically disadvantaged youth through collaborative partnerships. As a result of attending this session participants will learn techniques for creating, sustaining, and expanding strategic partnerships. Financial education can serve as a preventative and prescriptive measure for low-income households. Preventative measures, such as the acquisition of financial knowledge early in life, can help youth responsibly handle their finances as adults.

Knocking Down Barriers to Promote Financial Well-Being for All Eric Reed & Michael Roush

Often times individuals with disabilities, seniors and their families experience barriers to achieving financial wellness due to public benefit rules, access to services and programmatic guidelines. This session will provide resources and tools to assist financial capability practitioners, financial service providers and other professionals to knock down these barriers. Attendees will leave with actionable steps and tools that they can implement.

Using interactive technology to increase participation and absorption in Financial Education Cara Macksoud

This session will demonstrate the uses of a fun educational interactive tool (Nearpod). The presentation is designed to be interactive and facilitate dialogue as you would when teaching. In the end our goal is give financial educators to a tool that they can incorporate when developing a financial education program. I want to highlight that the best benefit of Nearpod is that it allows all the group members to participate in the program material anonymously, taking the shame out of being right or wrong.

FinTech For Good or Evil Moderator: Carlene Ulacia. Panelists: Rhonda Little, Margie Genter, & Robert McLaughlin

Have you thought of fintech as a bad option, a trouble-maker, or at the very least, a high-cost option? Have those you serve told you they don’t need a bank account because they have a debit card, like the Chime card, Cashapp card, Direct Express card, and the like? Recent trends show that fintech is here to stay: with a 4 trillion dollar market size as of 2022 and fintech revenue doubling since 2017. Join panelists as we touch upon research, discuss useful and harmful fintech, and explore how fintech is being used by those we serve. If we all work together, Good will prevail!

Persistence and Retention Strategies for Under-served Populations Lori Auxier

During this session, we will review tools and strategies that are available to help increase the success rates of those students who are most at risk for dropping out—first-generation college-going students; those from low-income families; commuter students; and nontraditional-age students. Topics include: choosing the right college, how to navigate the college campus, academic success tips, financial aid info and adjusting to college life.

Creating New Partnerships with Financial Institutions to Build Financial Health Michael Roush & Janet Hamer

Join us for an interactive session on building partnerships with financial institutions to increase access to financial education, financial coaching and workforce and small business development, including entrepreneurship, and affordable and accessible housing. This session will provide information on inclusive community development and how to discuss partnership opportunities with financial institutions to support low-to moderate-income (LMI) individuals. Attendees will leave with a tool to assist in creating their story to build and enhance relationships with financial institutions and hear best practices of collaborations

Demystifying Financial Entitlements and Public Benefits: Additional Ways by Which To Access Income Gale B. Pinkston, Esq., Sharon D. Bundrage, Esq., & Suleyma Hernandez

Legal Services programs in Florida receive requests from residents to assist with obtaining financial benefits. This session will provide methods of accessing income for eligible persons. Two Attorneys and an Outreach Coordinator will provide overviews of select financial entitlements, public benefits and case scenarios through which consumers avail themselves of benefits they maybe entitled to receive. The session will highlight federal income tax credits, collection alternatives, and controversy resolution as well as present avenues to contest and appeal Social Security related benefit decisions. Suggestions for effective outreach to target populations regarding this topic will be provided.

The Spondulics Kingdom Celebration

Just like a page out of an enchanted tale, The Spondulics Kingdom is opening its doors for a royal financial edutainment celebration filled with jesters, musicians, and princes fighting for the heart of the Spondulics Princess. An ice cream social will begin our celebration followed by our edutainers from all over the land. Make sure to bring the whole family for a magical evening with Spondulics.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo - The Power of the Glass Shoe Cara Macksoud, FBS

During this session we will take a deep dive into the Status Habitude. The word Status is often associated with negative, manipulative, or superficial behaviors which are often connected to a hidden agenda. But our clients are still trying to achieve things that make them believe they have status. Understanding the more nuanced and broader definition that is related to acceptance by family, friends, colleagues, or other influential groups can help us work more effectively with clients who seem stuck on status-related financial behaviors that sabotage their financial intentions.

Using Technology to Increase Racial Equity and Financial Wellness Karla Bachmann, Christine Coronado, and Megan Bolando

Since 2017, Branches has been an active partner of Change Machine, implementing their software as the center of their data culture and financial coaching strategy. Together, these two organizations will present how Change Machine has supported Branches to deliver human-centered, data-driven, and outcomes-oriented financial wellness services. Branches has developed an intentional focus on building technological bridges to mainstream financial products, services and programs. They have learned that using Fintech is an inclusive and efficient way to reach participants while providing convenient yet transformational services. They will explain how they developed a comprehensive evaluation strategy to measure the impact of their organization, and how the data collected guides the adoption of innovative ideas that guide their program design and incorporates feedback from users and services providers. They will explain how strategic data collection through a supportive software can lead to more meaningful time providing services. Change Machine will present their platform which is a tech-based solution that provides nonprofit practitioners tools and resources to deliver financial coaching activities with their participants and users. Embedded within the platform is the Recommendation Engine, an AI-powered tool that provides tailored recommendations of inclusive, accessible fintech products that can support clients as they navigate financial security and work towards achieving goals. Through this plenary session Branches and Change Machine will provide answers to many of the questions nonprofit professionals and financial services providers often ask regarding data such as “Why do we have to spend so much time collecting data?” “Why would all of this data collection be important to me?” and “What does my team do with all of these metrics I’m entering?"

Overview of the current and upcoming research on the effectiveness of Individual Counseling (Credit and Housing) vs. Financial Education Helene Raynaud & Judy MacKenzie

Protecting the Emotional Wealth in the Kingdom Cara Macksound, FBS, Mallory from Morphing Minds, and Jasmine Johnson, Accredited Financial Counselor

With a staggering wage gap, student debt crisis, and racial wealth inequalities, young adults are struggling more than ever before to reduce their financial stress and prioritize their emotional wealth: the delicate balance between the mind and money. This panel will bring awareness to the mental health and financial stress crisis in the United States that has been impacting the millennial generation significantly compared to the generations before them. As a result of their engagement, participants will learn about collaborative partnerships, financial empathy, and techniques for financial educators to protect the emotional wealth in their classrooms (kingdoms).

Closing Ceremonies