27 Mar 2012
Tips that YEDID clients learn at our Family Budget Management Training courses are particularly useful during holiday periods—a time when it´s so easy to overspend, even on something as simple as a Passover Seder.
Family Budget Management Training
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For the growing number of low-income citizens, budget management training is crucial in avoiding debt and foreclosure, and helps them manage their day-to-day expenses by encouraging family cooperation and communication.
The Benefits of Budgeting
One in four Israelis lives below the poverty line. The numbers of working poor — families with one or even two employed parents — are swelling to new heights. It is not uncommon for Israeli families to have to make difficult daily choices between food and medicines, heating and cooking. For these families, a little savings can go a long way in breaking out of the cycle of poverty and providing their children a more secure future.
Program Description
The Family Budget Management program empowers low-income Israelis of all backgrounds with the skills necessary to develop and adhere to personal and family budgets. Sessions led by trained financial management facilitators explore how to budget and prioritize expenses, engage family cooperation and augment income.
Participants learn to identify and overcome emotional spending and understand how media advertising influences purchasing habits. They learn practical skills such as negotiating tactics to better interface with banks and use workbooks to track expenses and plan budgets. Participants are also invited to approach the volunteers at their local Citizen Rights Center to work on an individualized plan for debt management and actualization of rights.
Recognizing that financial literacy should be learned early in order to change the root of the problem, YEDID has now customized its Budget Management course for teenagers and youth. This program is also a standard component in YEDID's Let's Get to Work! Employment Readiness course for low-income women.
Positive Results
This program has reached citizens from all social groups, including ultra-orthodox, single mothers, new immigrants, Arab-Israelis, public housing residents, the physically disabled, former drug addicts, prisoners, and victims of domestic abuse. Over 70% of course participants report significant improvement in their sense of control over the family budget and financial issues, as well as a positive impact on family behavior.
To donate to YEDID's Family Budget Management programming,
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To read more about this program:
Low-income women report on positive outcomes: http://www.yedid.org.il/?id=2793
Course especially for the hearing impaired: http://www.yedid.org.il/?id=2971
Budget Management in Safed: http://www.yedid.org.il/?id=3086