By Jennifer DeWitt
September 16, 2008

QC DollarWi$e will continue its efforts to help Quad-City families focus on credit, debt and personal saving as the organization holds its third annual QC DollarWi$e Week, Sept. 20-27.

DollarWi$e Week begins with the Mayor’s Financial Literacy Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at Johnny’s Metro Banquet Room, John Deere Commons, Moline.

“The purpose of the week is to promote saving for kids and families,” said Lisa Lockheart, the coordinator of QC DollarWi$e. “We are looking at doing a number of financial education programs to help people start on that road.’’

The week of activities is part of DollarWi$e’s ongoing financial education efforts across the Quad-Cities. The non-profit community coalition is made up of community agencies, financial services, faith-based groups, educators and government agencies all working to improve the area’s financial literacy.

The keynote speaker at the breakfast will be Tom Feltner, communications and policy director with the Woodstock Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit that helps communities around the globe promote community reinvestment and economic development. He will discuss “Building and Preserving Modest Assets: Best Practices for Community Economic Development.”

In addition, Chris Giangreco, a policy coordinator with Illinois Asset Building Group/Heartland Alliance, will discuss the asset poverty index. The index tracks the number of households that do not have sufficient cash reserves to get by for three months if their primary source of income is eliminated.

In fact, in a six-county area in western Illinois that includes the Illinois Quad-Cities, the asset poverty rate for homeowner households is almost twice that of the state. Nearly half those households are headed by someone under 35. To view the current index, go to illinoisassetbuilding.org/data/assetpoverty.

Lockheart said DollarWi$e also will be take its financial education into the workplaces this fall with a new Lunch and Learn series. “We’re looking for some pilot companies who want us to come in and teach a four-week program,” she said.

In addition, DollarWi$e plans to introduce a new Kids Club to 6, 7 and 8 year olds this fall at the Boys & Girls Club, in Moline and Davenport.

Financial education “is top of mind for a lot of good reasons right now,” she said, adding “The need for financial education really cuts across all segments of the community.”

Lockheart said the breakfast event will include an awards ceremony to honor those “who have done a lot to help improve the financial health of the Quad-Cities in the last year.”