On Thursday, October 29, 2015 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—in conjunction with Community Legal Services of Philadelphia—is offering a free training on Your Money, Your Goals: A financial empowerment toolkit for legal aid organizations for legal aid attorneys and staff. The training will be held at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, 1410 W. Erie Avenue, Philadelphia; Phone: 215-227-2400.

Your Money, Your Goals provides information and tools that help legal aid staff help clients address financial challenges. Developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the toolkit covers a wide array of financial and consumer protection topics and contains practical tools for use by clients. The toolkit is available online in English and Spanish.

Benefits to Clients of Your Money, Your Goals

For clients, receiving financial empowerment tools and information from their legal aid organization means that at a single point of service they not only address legal issues, but also begin to address pressing financial issues.

This toolkit can help legal aid help clients:

• Bring their cash flow budgets into balance to help pay bills on time.
• Set goals and calculate how much money they need to save to reach these goals.
• Establish an emergency savings fund.
• Access and use tax refunds.
• Track the specific ways they are using their money.
• Make a simple plan to pay down debt.
• Know better how to respond to debt collectors.
• Get, review and fix errors on their credit reports.
• Evaluate financial products and services.
• Recognize when their consumer rights may have been violated and know how to take action.

Benefits for legal aid organizations

Legal aid organizations also benefit from integration of financial empowerment services through use of Your Money, Your Goals and other resources.

• Financial empowerment aligns with the mission of legal aid organizations to help low-income clients address legal challenges that may affect their ability to achieve financial stability.
   
• Financial empowerment may help legal aid organizations achieve their outcomes as well as outcomes that legal aid organizations support such as working toward a reduction in poverty.
   
• Financial empowerment may help clients resolve their legal issues more quickly.
   
• Discussing financial issues and resources can help link legal aid to more resources in the community. Building partnerships with other organizations that can help clients with their financial challenges helps strengthen the reach and connection of legal aid organizations in the community.

To register or for more information about the event, email empowerment@cfpb.gov with your name and organization.  NOTE:  Capacity is limited so please register ASAP.