Last Friday, City of Redmond Mayor John Marchione visited WorkSource in Redmond to speak with young adults and community organizations about finance.
His visit was part of “DollarWise: Planning for the Future,” a national campaign in April designed to provide communities with an opportunity to focus on the importance of personal and family financial literacy. The campaign also highlights ongoing, year-round financial education programs.
Danielle Wallace, project manager for the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC), said DollarWise seeks to improve people’s financial literacy and encourages mayors across the country to speak with residents about the importance of using money wisely to prepare for a financially stable future.
Marchione participated in the campaign through his involvement with the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), which is a DollarWise partner.
“When I first came out of college I was surprised that my peers didn’t know how to budget, save and use credit responsibly,” he said about why he got involved in the campaign. “It is even more urgent today with the broad availability of credit cards and the ability to spend mindlessly on the Internet.”
Some of the key points of Marchione’s talk at WorkSource included the importance of creating a budget and planning for necessities first. He also told attendees that they should track their money and follow transactions in their accounts as well as create a savings plan for emergencies or large purchases.
Marchione, who had a background in finance before he became mayor, said he thinks everyone needs a grounding in basic budgeting, cash flow and debt.
Wallace — whose organization, the WDC, is a nonprofit workforce think-tank and grant-making organization with a mission to support a strong economy and people’s abilities to achieve self-sufficiency — added that financial literacy is a key component of attaining economic self-sufficiency at any age.
“We find that financial literacy complements employment training, leading to better long-term outcomes for youth and adults,” she said.
Marléna Sessions, CEO of the WDC, added, “In addition to career planning, skills training and education, and secure employment, financial literacy is a critical part of becoming a productive community member.”
Wallace said WDC works throughout the community, bringing employers, jobseekers, youth, educators, labor groups and other nonprofits together to find and fund solutions for workforce gaps. The organization was established in 2000 and is led by a board of directors with a private-sector majority.
“We oversee a wide range of employment-related programs and initiatives, serving thousands of King County youth, adults and businesses each year,” Wallace said.
She said since financial literacy is a key component of self-sufficiency, the WDC has used the tools developed by the DollarWise Campaign as a complement to its own programming.
One of those DollarWise tools is Better Money Habits, a series of online videos created by the Khan Academy and Bank of America to teach people how to manage money and use debt responsibly.
Marchione took part in launching the video series, saying, “the Khan Academy approach is a proven method to teach people at their own pace. It will be very successful in helping increase financial literacy.”
