Tag Archives: volunteers

Volunteer Spotlight: Jackie Rivas

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Megan Kuhn

Our volunteers rock. Want proof? Meet Jackie Rivas.

Master Financial Education Volunteer Jackie Rivas

Name: Jackie Rivas
Lives: Arlington
Works: Staff Accountant at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Master Financial Education Volunteer Since: 2011

Q: What do you like to do for fun?
A: I like to run on the bike path and ride bicycles.

I like to go to the movies. The Mexican movie “Paradise” was very cute. It is about an overweight couple. She stumbles on a diet center, and she gets her husband on a diet too. He starts to lose weight and she doesn’t. It was a nice insight into normal people.

Q: What is your favorite thing to save for?
A: My favorite thing to save for is to travel. My last exotic trip was Cambodia. I went to the Temple of Angkor Wat and took a cooking class in Siem Reap.

In Phnom Penh we spent a day at a bear rescue center. There is a popular dish called bear paw soup. This place will buy bears from restaurants to save them.

We also went to an elephant rescue center. If you go to Asia, do not ride elephants. It’s really hard on the elephant. It hurts their backs.

Q: Which do you enjoy most about being a Master Financial Education Volunteer?
A: Learning from the participants. I taught at Greenbrier Learning Center, and there was a woman who has implemented all the strategies we’ve been teaching.

She qualifies for food from Arlington Food Assistance Center, but she is determined to save $200 a month. I work with people who don’t save that much who make a lot more than she does.

When she doesn’t reach her goal, she looks for things she can cut. If she needs to cut cable, Internet or Starbucks, she does. This is someone who is highly motivated. It is amazing what people can do with limited resources.

Q: What else have you learned from teaching classes?
A: Some people have had bad experiences with banks in other countries. You need to talk about how banking in the U.S. is different from what they may have experienced elsewhere. U.S. banking is insured by the federal government. There are rules and regulations that protect the depositor.

It’s fairly prevalent in Mexico and Central America countries that if people don’t have access to banks and borrowing, they get a group and they all put money into a pot and lend it to someone.

They take turns borrowing the money and paying it back. It requires a lot of trust. I’ve found it very educational to work with these people and learn about their creative ways to meet their needs.

Volunteer Spotlight: Jen Lanouette

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Megan Kuhn

Our volunteers rock. Want proof? Meet Jen Lanouette

Master Financial Education Volunteer Jen Lanouette

Name: Jen Lanouette
Lives: Arlington
Works: Social Work Student at Catholic University
Master Financial Education Volunteer Since: May 2013.

Jen Lanouette has been coaching clients since she became a Master Financial Education Volunteer. She enjoyed one-on-one coaching so much, it helped spark a career change.

Q: What are you studying in grad school?
A: Social work. The Master Financial Education Volunteer program — working with clients one-on-one — is one of the things that prompted me to make a career change.

Q: What advice do you have for your financial coaches who are meeting with a new client for the first time?
A: Really listen to your client and what they see as their problem and challenges. Go at the pace they set. As volunteers, we are armed with a lot of information. But it is important to respect where your client is in the process.

Also, don’t be afraid to do additional research. Spend additional time gathering more information about challenges your client is facing. It’s important to keep learning about things that are specific to your client.

Q: What’s your favorite thing to save for?
A: I like to save for long-term priorities, like my daughter’s education and my family’s retirement. Savings to travel is another thing we prioritize. We are Outer Banks fans, so we try to save for a beach vacation.

Q: What’s your favorite money motto?
A: If you stick your head under the covers, it is not going to go away. When people don’t like financial stuff, there is a tendency to avoid it. The only way to deal with it is to dig in and start dealing with it.

Q: What do you do for fun?
A: I really enjoy cooking. It’s probably my favorite hobby. And reading.

Q: What was the last book you couldn’t put down?
A: The Working Poor: Invisible in America and Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc. – How the Working Poor Became Big Business. Broke, USA is an analysis of payday loans, check cashing and rent-to-own businesses. It was really fascinating how predatory financial practices can be. The book profiled a lot of aggressive mortgage policies. For example, offering low income people mortgages and charging between 10 percent, 20 percent and 30 percent of the loan in upfront fees.

To nominate a Master Financial Education Volunteer for the spotlight, please email Megan Kuhn at Megan.Kuhn@vt.edu.

Volunteer Spotlight: Star Henderson

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Megan Kuhn

Our volunteers rock. Want proof? Meet Star Henderson

Name: Star Henderson
Lives: Falls Church, Va.
Works: Accredited Financial Counselor candidate and aFINRA Investor Education Foundation Military Spouse Fellow
Master Financial Education Volunteer Since: September 2014

Master Financial Education Volunteer Star Henderson

Star Henderson provided invaluable behind-the-scenes help for our Northern Virginia Saves campaign. She created colorful graphics and scheduled 40 plus social media posts on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. She represented us in a Twitter chat with Arlington Community Federal Credit Union and The Centsables. The chat covered how to teach children about savings. This is just her behind-the-scenes volunteering! Henderson coaches clients, leads credit counseling and teaches classes.

Q: What would other volunteers be surprised to learn about you?
A: I’m a very introverted person who has to force myself to get out and to teach.

Q: What do you like to do fun?
A: Ride motorcycles with my husband and hang out with my kids.

Q: What is the hardest thing about being a financial coach?
A: Not doing something for the client and making sure the skills you’re teaching are sticking with the client. Sometimes we want to fix people, but we need to empower people to do it on their own.

Q: How did you handle pressure to do work for the client?
A: I’ve had clients who didn’t have a checkbook register. We were trying to balance their checkbook against their bank statements. I literally had to make sure I wasn’t writing down information for them. It would have taken me 5 minutes to write it in their register, but that wouldn’t have taught them anything.

Q: What is your favorite part of being a financial coach?
A: Making our clients believe they can manage their finances. The clients I have, their husbands always plan finances. The success story is that I’ve turned the women’s thinking around, and they are trying because they believe they can manage their finances.

Q: What do you know now that you wish you’d know when you first started volunteering?
A: There’s a wealth of knowledge throughout the volunteers. They are all very eager to help. Ask other volunteers about their experiences and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

To nominate a Master Financial Education Volunteer for the spotlight, please email Megan Kuhn at Megan.Kuhn@vt.edu.

New Volunteers, Round 2

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Megan Kuhn

We trained 34 new volunteers to serve as financial coaches in early September. Our regular fall training followed our expedited training for financial professionals in August. Eight financial professionals joined our ranks last month.

This brings us to a record 42 new volunteers! Volunteers make our programs possible, so the turnout makes my heart sing.

E and J

A very big thank you to our friends and partners who spread the word about our recruitment drive. An especially big thanks goes to Community Tax Aid‘s Teresa Hinze who sent an email blast to her volunteers. Community Tax Aid was our top source of volunteers — 13. Our second biggest source of volunteers was the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, with 6 volunteers. Thanks to David Bass for including our recruitment drive in his group’s message board.

We also owe thanks to: DC-Hispanic Employee Network, the Hispanic Committee of Northern Virginia Family Service, Volunteer Arlington, The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors DC study group, Arlington Neighborhood College, Leadership Arlington, Care 4 Your Future and Georgetown University Center for Continuing & Professional Education Certificate in Financial Planning. Say that five times fast.

Our next training for Master Financial Education Volunteers is April 18 & 25, 2015. Both sessions are mandatory. To register, please contact me at Megan.Kuhn@vt.edu or call 703-228-6421.

#IAM4H Afterschool Leadership Training Series

Posted on September 16, 2014 by rbmorris

Are you 4-H? If you answered no… here’s your chance to get involved. With start of the 2014-2015 4-H Year only a few days away, Alexandria 4-H would like to give everyone an opportunity to join the Revolution of Responsibility! Our adult volunteer leaders are the true backbone of our program and without their caring and positive attitude we wouldn’t have the ability to impact the lives of so many youth; BUT we always have room for more.

The #IAM4H Afterschool Training Series is a series of learning sessions designed to introduce a 4-H programming opportunities available to: parents, teachers, afterschool programmers, childcare providers, faith-based organizations, and other caring adults wishing to improve the quality of their current youth development program. 4-H Afterschool is unique in that it “trains the educators” so that you can go back and implement 4-H programming in any youth development setting.

NYSD 2014

These sessions are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Each session is from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Lee Center Exhibit Hall (1108 Jefferson Street, Alex. VA 22314). The first training, on Monday October 6, 2014, will focus on the 2014 4-H National Youth Science Experiment: Rockets to the Rescue. Registration deadline is Wednesday October 1, so SIGN UP NOW. To register please log on to: www.tinyurl.com/Alex4HVolTraining

For information please contact Reggie Morris, Alexandria 4-H Youth Development.

Check out the link below to learn about additional training sessions!

IAM4H Afterschool Leadership Training Series

Upping Our Financial IQs

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Megan Kuhn

Do money smarts really pay? We think so, and plan to prove it through an exciting new program.

We are combining classroom instruction with one-on-one coaching to better help people establish positive financial habits through a program we’re calling Money Smarts Pay.

In 3 months, Money Smarts Pay participants will tackle:

Goal setting & budgeting in class 1
Credit & debt management in class 2
Strategies for saving & choosing financial services in class 3.

Robert and Femia

During the weeks between classes, participants meet with the same financial coach for in-person cheerleading and over the phone check-ins. We hope this extra encouragement will help people make the lasting changes they learned about in class.

We inaugurated Money Smarts Pay last week at Arlington Mill Residences, the first of six places where the program will be introduced. Arlington Mill Residences is a rental complex owned by our Money Smarts Pay partner, the nonprofit affordable housing developer Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH). APAH serves individuals and families earning between $20,000 and $60,000 per year.

Jay and Joan

Money Smarts Pay at Arlington Mill is being taught in English, and an English session will be offered at Buchanan Gardens starting in November 2014. Money Smarts Pay will be offered in Spanish at Columbia Grove starting in September 2014.

The materials we are using for Money Smarts Pay is a mix of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new Your Money, Your Goals toolkit and the FDIC’s Money Smart for Adults curriculum.

Our 2-year partnership with APAH is possible through a generous grant from the Arlington Community Development Fund, which awarded the program a total of $27,000.

A very big thank you to our Master Financial Education Volunteers who are making the Arlington Mill series possible: Femeia Adamson, Roger Brown, Shauna Dyson, Nichole Hyter, Desiree Kaul and Joan Smith. Another thank you goes to APAH’s Arlington Mill staffer Carla Marin for the heavy lifting on-site, including classroom setup.

If you would like to coach a participant or teach a class in an upcoming series, please send an email to Megan.Kuhn@vt.edu.

Volunteer Spotlight: Roger Brown

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Megan Kuhn

Each month Extension’s financial education program is profiling an outstanding volunteer. To nominate someone, please email Megan Kuhn at megan81@vt.edu.

Name: Roger Brown
Lives: Arlington, since 1975
Works: Retired U.S. Census Bureau civil servant

Roger Brown has volunteered as a Master Financial Education Volunteer since October 2011. He recently taught financial management classes at Arlington Correctional Facility.

Master Financial Education Volunteer Roger Brown

Q. What would people be surprised to learn about you?
A. I do tai chi. I can say hello and goodbye in 20 languages.

Q. Why do you volunteer?
A. I believe you should give back. It’s very rewarding to help others, especially people having a hard time.

Q. Why is financial education important?
A. People need to know how to manage their spending so they can live within their income. They need to control their expenses to minimize the amount of credit they need.

Q. What is your favorite part about volunteering as a financial educator?
A. Kids’ Marketplace. [Editor’s note: Kids’ Marketplace is a financial simulation adapted for elementary and middle school-aged children.] When kids understand how their parents manage their money, they appreciate their parents more.

Q. What’s been the biggest challenge as a volunteer?
A. Volunteering at the Arlington Correctional Facility. You’re teaching in a cell block. There are guards. It’s a challenging place to teach a class even though the need is great. I wasn’t sure I was going to do it. I recommend it. You’re helping people who really need it.

It’s National Volunteer Week! THANK YOU! And How to Get Involved…

Posted on April 9, 2014 by maryev8

This week we celebrate National Volunteer Week.
It is time to say THANK YOU to all our volunteers.
Cooperative Extension relies on volunteers, and we believe that active citizen involvement in our programs ensures success. The work of volunteers at state and local levels helps leverage our paid faculty and staff resources into a much greater impact and benefit for the people of Virginia.

For Extension Volunteer Stories see http://www.ext.vt.edu/news/centennial-articles/stories/index.html

Get Involved
There are many ways you can get involved as a volunteer with Cooperative Extension to bring your talents and skills to benefit the community. Some of them are listed below. If you are interested in volunteering, but not sure in what way, contact our offices: Arlington 703 228 6400 and Alexandria 703 746 5546. Staff will be happy to help you find a way to share your time and talents.

Here’s how to get involved volunteering locally with Cooperative Extension programs:

Arlington and Alexandria Extension Leadership Council (ELC)
The Arlington and Alexandria Extension Leadership Council is composed of interested residents, Cooperative Extension staff, and county and city liaisons who identify community issues and help ensure programs are responsive to real needs. Also, the ELC advocates in support of local programs and staff, and promotes greater awareness of the work of the Extension staff and volunteers. The ELC meets every two months. If you are interested in joining, please contact the Arlington or Alexandria Extension Office and come to an ELC meeting. ELC 2014 Brochure

.4-H Youth Development
4-H stands for head, heart, hands and health.

Every 4-H program benefits from this integrated approach to civic engagement and hands-on learning – and the dedication and service of caring volunteers. If you are interested in contributing your time to help further the development of youth in our community, please contact Reggie Morris, 4-H agent for Alexandria rbmorris@vt.edu or Emily Reiersgaard, 4-H agent for Arlington, emilyr@vt.edu

Master Gardeners
Master Gardeners encourage and promote environmentally sound horticultural practices through sustainable landscape management education and training.

Here serving Arlington and Alexandria we have the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia. Master Gardeners training will be offered in the fall. For details contact: Agriculture and Natural Resources agent, Kirsten Buhls kbuhls@vt.edu or Arlington’s Interim Master Gardener Coordinator, Jocelyn Yee jyee@arlingtonva.us

Arlington Regional Master Naturalists
The Arlington Regional Master Naturalist program is part of a statewide corps of volunteers providing education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities. If you’re interested in becoming an Arlington Regional Master Naturalist, go to http://armn.org/contact-us/

Master Food Volunteers
Master Food Volunteers help support Extension’s family and consumer sciences (FCS) agents through education and outreach programs related to food preparation, nutrition, food safety, and physical activity. Contact FCS agent Katie Strong kstrong@vt.edu for information about programs and trainings in the Arlington and Fairfax area.

Arlington Energy Masters http://www.arlingtonenvironment.org/energy/
Arlington’s innovative Energy Masters program promotes a more energy efficient and sustainable Arlington community. We engage professionally trained volunteers in retrofitting, weatherization, and water conservation techniques serving low-income apartment residents. If you are interested in applying for the 2014-2015 program later this summer, please complete the volunteer interest form.

Master Financial Educators
Financial volunteers receive a comprehensive training on budgeting, retirement planning, home buying, and many other finance topics, instruction in counseling techniques. Volunteers can choose to help individuals or community groups with financial education programs – including learning to reconcile debts, set goals, budget spending, and organization to improve money management skills. Please contact Jennifer Abel jabel@vt.edu for details of the next training.

Volunteering Counts!
Here is how volunteering counts in Arlington and Alexandria.
In 2012: the Arlington and Alexandria staff and volunteers of Virginia Cooperative Extension reached over 50,000 people with 650+ education programs. 850+ active volunteers contributed over 32, 000 hours. That outreach was conducted with a local office staff of about a dozen people. That’s the power of volunteers!

Interested in volunteering statewide or at national level for Virginia Cooperative Extension? See: http://www.ext.vt.edu/volunteer.html

Inspiration and Impact:

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Mary

In January, Arlington and Alexandria VA Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners and 4-H Youth Leaders and agents trained Arlington County staff on some Junior Master Gardener projects. Tomorrow staff at Westover Library are hosting Kids in the Garden – a program inspired by what they learned at the Cooperative Extension training.
The kids will plant some seeds to take home – and see how they grow…

Look out for more youth gardening activities this season at the libraries and in Arlington County Dept of Recreation after-school programs.

And let’s grow these inspirational and successful VA Cooperative Extension training programs!

Poster by Westover Library staff.

New Master Financial Education Volunteers

Posted on November 15, 2013 by jabel

On October 26 twelve new Master Financial Education Volunteers completed their training and are ready to begin helping with financial education programs in Arlington County and the City of Alexandria. Bill, Christy, Dana, Dave, David, Evelyn, Michelle, Patrick, Shauna, Tiffany, Vera, and Ximena join more than 200 trained financial volunteers who provide one-on-one financial counseling to individuals and families, help to teach classes on budgeting, debt management, and saving strategies, and help with the youth financial simulations that we do in the elementary, middle, and high schools.

The new volunteers have already leapt into their volunteer roles. Shauna and Evelyn taught a class on budgeting and saving to a group at the Nauck Community Center. Bill and Patrick will be teaching a class on Nov. 16 about credit and debt at the same location. Many of the volunteers have signed up to help with the Kids Marketplace and Reality Store events that we’ll be doing at Carlin Springs Elementary School and Arlington Mill High School Continuation Program in the coming weeks. Christy is working on setting up a series of classes on money management for recently divorced individuals. Vera is working on a program for veterans. Dave and Dana are going to be working with a previously trained volunteer—Janet—to put together a financial education program for teens who are about to complete high school and head to college.

We are grateful to have this new cohort of volunteers and are excited about their level of enthusiasm. If you are interested in becoming a Master Financial Education Volunteer or know someone who would be, please have them contact jabel@vt.edu. The next training for new volunteers will be held in April.