As United Way continues to work towards advancing the common good by creating opportunities for a better life through our focus on income (one of our three identified building blocks for a good life), help for individuals and families in our region to increase financial stability takes on new life with the expansion of Smart About Money (SAM) budget coaching program to SAM 3.0!
It turns out that my random decisions are not so random, rather highly predictable and easily influenced. And I am not alone. Behavioral economics has unraveled a whole new world of understanding people's actions, and provided compelling evidence to break-down some of the stagnant or ineffective structures/policies/ideologies that have persisted for so long.
The twelve households that participated in a new pilot program learned that they could get smart about how they spend their money, and make changes to improve their financial situation. Smart About Money (SAM) is a program that matches volunteer budget coaches with lower-income households to help participants set and achieve financial goals. The Annie E. Casey Foundation and United Way of Greater New Haven have partnered to bring the program to people living in New Haven, Hamden, East Haven and West Haven.
Start collecting your coins and cash them in at Connex Credit Union's North Haven branch's coin-cashing machine during the months of April, May and June all all the fees collected will be donated to United Way of Greater New Haven.
Connex kicked-off their Coins For Change program on Saturday, April 2, 2011 at their Hamden branch at 2100 Dixwell Avenue. Pictured above are Kathy Hart-Jones, United Way; Derek Beere, Mason; Annette Gunn, Connex; and Steve MacLaughlin, WTNH.
Submitted by Amy Stanton on December 17, 2010 - 4:09pm
Thanks to Jennifer Heath, the Vice President for Community Leadership from United Way of Greater New Haven in partnering with me this week to tell Connecticut Style viewers about our great partnership in the SAM Program! We had the unique opportunity to tape a segment for WTNH's lunchtime lifestyle show.
SAM uses volunteer Budget Coaches to help educate, guide and encourage households to identify and work through specific financial concerns and goals. The curriculum is based on a budget coaching program developed by Co-Opportunity, Inc. and United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. Together, SAM participants and coaches work to change behaviors toward achieving long-term financial success.
The development of a household budget accurately reflecting your family’s income and expenses is the first step to creating financial stability for you and your family. Here’s a great step-by-step way to begin thinking about what you will need to consider when creating a household budget. There are many budget creation tools available in the community. For your convenience, here are a few suggestions and a simple budget creation document to get you started with developing a household budget.
