Monthly Archives: January 2014

Rescheduled: Senior Cooking for the New Year – Join us at Arlington Mill on Jan 30

Today’s cooking demonstration for Arlington 55+ is rescheduled for Jan 30 at 11 am, due to inclement weather.

Have you been to the Arlington Mill Senior Center? Check out the facility and join VCE for a senior cooking demonstration! Register through the Arlington 55+ program.

COOKING FOR YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
Enjoy your food but eat less. Start 2014 on the right track! Join Katie Strong, a registered dietitian from Virginia Cooperative Extension for a tasty meal packed with nutrition and light in calories. Taste healthful and nutrient-dense meals to make your resolutions last.

Wed., Jan. 30, 11am-noon Arlington Mill, 703-228-7369

909 South Dinwiddie Street, Arlington, VA 22204

Texas Caviar

Texas Caviar

Alexandria / Arlington 4-H Leadership Program Explores Natural History

Teen 4-Hers from Alexandria and Arlington braced the winter cold for a Saturday of exploring at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. These young people are participating in a year-long special interest 4-H project focusing on career exploration in partnership with the Arlington Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless and the Smithsonian Office of Fellowships and Internships. The program is designed to assist the participants in acquiring the skills and knowledge  base necessary to become thriving members of workforce.

The students have adopted the mission statement: “As a group we will: Have fun and work as a team, to communicate, learn, and prepare for our jobs and goals. We will become more organized, confident, and successful, and choose a career path this is just right for us.

In April the participants will spend a week at one of the Smithsonian museums completing a brief internship based on a career field of their choice. We are always looking for volunteers to come and speak to the group; if you are interested please contact Reggie Morris 4-H Agent at 703-74-5546.

” 2014 Youth Project  -- Smithsonian (01-11-14) (06)2014 Youth Project  -- Smithsonian (01-11-14) (10)2014 Youth Project  -- Smithsonian (01-11-14) (05)2014 Youth Project  -- Smithsonian (01-11-13) (02)

New Year, New Financial Program Offerings

As we move into 2014 we are pleased to offer many new financial education programs, along with old favorites. On January 22 we will start the ninth year of offering Money Talk: A financial course for women at the Arlington Central Library. This five-week course provides sessions on financial basics, insurance, investing, retirement planning, and planning for future life events. This popular course has occasionally drawn comments from men along the lines of “why are we being left out?” Thanks to volunteer Megan Kuhn, the gents no longer have to sit on the sidelines. Megan started a co-ed Money Talk course on Jan. 15. It runs five weeks as well and takes place at Calvary United Methodist Church in Crystal City.

In October we trained a new corps of Master Financial Education Volunteers and they have been enthusiastically creating new presentations. The team of David N., Dana, and Janet have developed a presentation for high school seniors and their parents on financial skills that all students should have as they head to college. They will be starting to offer this presentation to Wakefield, Washington-Lee, and Yorktown parents and students in February.

Other volunteer teams are working on programs for recently divorced women, reverse mortgages, and financial education for veterans. We are happy to be able to expand our offerings to serve other target audiences that have not gotten much attention from financial educators in the past.

In February we will start our fifth year of providing one-on-one financial counseling at free tax clinics in Arlington and Alexandria. These services will be available on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings through April 15. They will be followed by a series of money management classes for recipients of the services.

We also continue with our financial simulations for youth. On January 14th we conducted a Kids Marketplace activity for 50 students at Ashlawn Elementary School. On the 24th and 31st we will be at Kenmore Middle School to conduct a Reality Store with all of the 8th graders. We will also conduct a Reality Store on March 1 for the local chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc.

In April, be on the lookout for the new Ask a Financial Expert program at the Arlington Central Library. Our volunteers will be available to meet with people one on one and answer their budgeting, credit/debt, saving, record keeping, and basic investing information questions. The library will sign up and pre-screen patrons for this service. This is an exciting expansion of our long-running partnership with Arlington libraries.

Also in the spring we’ll once again offer our Spring Personal Finance seminar series at Arlington Central Library. If you have a topic that you’d like to see covered in this series, please let Jennifer know by dropping her a note at jabel@vt.edu.

Wishing everyone a prosperous and financially healthy year!