JS-1111: Treasury Launches Financial Education Newsletter

The Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Education (OFE) today released the first issue of its on-line, quarterly newsletter, The Treasury Financial Education Messenger. The inaugural issue contains a message from Secretary John Snow stressing the importance of financial education as well as the eight elements of a successful financial education program.

“Financial education is extremely important for all Americans. As the President’s Jobs and Growth Plan puts more money into the hands of consumers through lower marginal tax rates, an increased child tax credit, and accelerated marriage penalty relief, Americans have an even greater chance to save, invest, or spend extra money wisely. Yet without access to financial education resources, many people may miss out on this golden opportunity,” said Secretary John Snow.

The eight elements of a successful financial education program in this edition of The Messenger offer guidance to financial education organizations as they develop programs and strategies to achieve the greatest impact in their communities. Each element is classified as relating to the program’s content, delivery, impact or sustainability.

*A successful program…*
Content	1. focuses on basic savings, credit management, home ownership and/or retirement planning.
	2. is tailored to its target audience, taking into account its language, culture, age and experience.
Delivery	3. is offered through a local distribution channel that makes effective use of community resources and contacts.
	4. follows up with participants to reinforce the message and ensure that participants are able to apply the skills taught.
Impact	5. establishes specific program goals and uses performance measures to track progress toward meeting those goals
	6. demonstrates a positive impact on participants’ attitudes, knowledge or behavior through testing, surveys or other objective evaluation.
Sustainability	7. can be easily replicated on a local, regional or national basis so as to have broad impact and sustainability.
	8. is built to last as evidenced by factors such as continuing financial support, legislative backing or integration into an established course of instruction.

The Treasury Financial Education Messenger is available online at www.treasury.gov/financialeducation, where visitors can also subscribe to receive future issues of the newsletter by e-mail.

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Education was established in May 2002. The Office of Financial Education is responsible for focusing the department's financial education policymaking, and for ensuring coordination on financial education within the Department and all of its bureaus. The Office of Financial Education serves to provide the Department of the Treasury with expertise on the many complex and interdisciplinary issues involved in financial education, and is able to tap into the Department's wide base of expertise on finance.