Financial Life Skills Training with Inmates
2018 NACo Achievement Award Winner
St. Lucie County, Fla., FL
Best In Category
About the Program
Category: Financial Management (Best in Category)
Year: 2018
âYour Game Plan for Building Wealthâ is a Financial Life Skills Extension program designed to raise awareness of the financial pitfalls inmates may face after their release from the St. Lucie County Jail, with a focus on proactive money management. Working with the St. Lucie County Jailâs Chaplain, the UF/IFAS Extension St Lucie County created this innovative program after learning from a Florida Department of Corrections study that recidivism rates are significantly lower for inmates who complete academic, vocational and substance abuse programs. Program objectives include improving inmate job readiness, entrepreneurship, budgeting, banking, saving, credit management, consumer awareness, communication skills and loss mitigation. Special attention is paid to educate participants about the community resources available to them upon release. Program partners include the jail, public defenderâs office and the UF/IFAS Extension St. Lucie Community Resource Development (CRD) Agent serving as the program facilitator. Each objective supports an overall strategy for building wealth and assets which research indicates decreases recidivism. Since its inception in July 2017, participating inmates consistently report increased knowledge of how to set specific, measureable, attainable, realistic and time sensitive (SMART) goals (67%), how to improve a credit score (56%), dealing with debt collectors (71%), and reading a stock report (60%).