AFDICA IN ACTION - Money Smart Class Spotlight - Arlington, VA Detention Center

AFDICA member Henry “Hank” Abbot has undertaken a most noteworthy Money Smart project. By his own initiative, Hank sought out to instruct the Money Smart-Adult curriculum to prisoners at the Arlington (VA) County Detention Facility (ACDF), where he had previously instructed in 2010-11. This was made possible as Hank is a volunteer with the Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR) office in Arlington, VA.

The training in the ACDF is conducted using selected Money Smart Adult Program slides contained within the Education Tab of the AFDICA website. Since most of the presentations were originally planned by FDIC for 90 to 120 minute classes, each lesson must be reduced in size and scope because classes in the ACDF must be conducted within a 70 to 75 minute time period. Based on the reactions of the prisoners in the classroom and the comments made on the Evaluation Forms submitted after each class, the four classes done to date were successful. In fact, some of the students have requested completion certificates at the end of the seven classes because they think that attending Money Smart Adult Program lessons may help them with their parole officers and/or judges.

The training began on June 14, 2018, and it will continue on successive Thursdays until July 26, 2018. The topics included are a limited version of the Money Smart Adult curriculum, given the limitations at the facility. The topics include;

Class Title Purpose of Class
Bank on It Explain bank services and how to open an account
Borrowing Basics Explain how to use credit wisely
Pay Yourself First Discuss various savings and investment options
Keep it Safe  Discuss consumer rights, identity theft & fraud
Charge it Right How to obtain credit and use a credit card
Loan to Own Discuss various types of installment loans 
Financial Recovery 

 How to repair credit and rebuild a financial life 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The projector used to display the slides is the Hitachi CP-WX3042WN wide angle projector. It saves paper in a Money Smart presentation because the instructor needs to bring only the projector, the projector cord, the remote, a flash drive containing the slides and a few handouts to each training session. It is not necessary to bring a complete Money Smart Participant Guide for each student in the class. This can easily save a ream of paper for each class, depending on the number of students in the class.

Thanks Hank for taking on such an exemplary effort!