Hey Youth, Let’s talk dollars and sense

Ask any parent about persuading their teenagers and pre-teens on the benefits of spending their money wisely, saving and budgeting.

They’ll tell you, it’s impossible…cannot be done.

But community worker Brian Smith isn’t quite convinced; he knows it’s a formidable challenge, but he says it has to done.

“We have to teach our young people personal money management,” he says. “Too many of them are being burdened with financial difficulties too early in life.”

Smith, a project coordinator with Carrefour Jeunesse-Emploi, a community organization serving young people in the NDG/Cote des Neiges district and an advisor to the Jamaican Canadian Community Women’s League of Montreal Inc., has made it his mission to take the money management message across our community especially to those between the ages of 16 and 25 in the NDG-Cote des Neiges area.

“It’s an issue that’s relevant to people in all age groups, especially working-class families, but it’s most important for us to reach out to our youth, because as a group they tend to have really bad habits when it comes to their finances.”

The Money---Dollars Make Sense program, aims to promote financial literacy among youth and help them make better decisions in their day-to-day economic activities.

The initiative was built out of a collaboration of The Carrefour and the JCCCWL.

Since this past June, Smith has been delivering the program through a series of weekly workshop to community groups and other institutions in and around NDG and Cote des Neiges.

He has also taken the message to Career Days at schools, informing students about the program and providing them with as much information as possible to spark their awareness of financial issues.

Smith is a graduate of Boston University where he cultivated his interest in personal money management and organized student initiatives around the issue.

He says today’s youth have been conditioned to be consumers… “They’re bombarded with offers from credit card companies, cell phone service providers and on-line merchants all encouraging them to spend, spend, spend… and before they realize it many of them are facing bankruptcy and financial emergencies.”

And so, he says, “It’s important that everyone should get a financial check-up in order to avoid becoming caught up in debt at an early age.”

“That’s why we’ve put in place this program to enlighten turn young people on the benefits of budgeting, savings and responsible buying which we hope will eventually turn them from consumers to ‘pro-sumers.’”

“The aim is to get them to think about how much they are spending on things like running shoes, cell-phones, music and electronics and then consider alternatives such as sales or other less expensive options.”

“Ultimately, we want them to become proactive consumers.

Smith has enlisted the support of four major sponsors: The Canadian Centre For Financial Literacy, Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, The Borough of Côte-des-Neiges/Notre Dame de Grâce, all of which provide additional resources to the project.

He is particularly enthused by the involvement of the AMF which assist in enlightening young people on proper investment strategies and provide them with some basic information on how to avoid being scammed by bogus investors.

And he is also forming partnerships with banks and other financial institutions that are interested in helping to nurture fiscal responsibility among its clientele.

Looking down the road, Smith says the benefit from intiative will go beyond the individual youth and help to empower the community.

“When we change from being just consumers of everything that’s placed in front of us, we’ll be able to reallocate some of that money to help build our community.”

Brian Smith can be reached at Carrefour Jeunesse-Emploi Cote des Neiges (514) 342- 05678 ext. 228.

Or Contact the Jamaican Canadian Community Women’s League of Montreal Inc. at 514- 486-5704. Links to supporting organizations:

www.theccfl.ca

https://secure.tesaffaires.com/en/index

http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/

by Egbert Gaye