Florida Master Money Mentor program helping Floridians manage finances

March 10, 2011

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida program in partnership with Bank of America aimed at providing financial mentoring to underserved Florida residents is producing encouraging results going into its second year.

The Florida Master Money Mentor program provides financial education to rural and low-to-moderate-income Florida families with the emphasis being on one-on-one peer education. The program started in February 2010, and since then 170 mentors have been trained and more than 150 Florida residents have utilized the program’s services in 14 counties.

Participants in the program can receive assistance in developing spending plans, organizing financial records, understanding credit and planning for the future. The overall goal is to increase financial knowledge and promote positive financial practices.

The mentors are agents from UF’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension offices and volunteers from social service agencies, nonprofits, financial services, students, retirees and the community.

“In our first full year in the field we developed, piloted and refined our training and evaluation,” said Michael Gutter, assistant professor and financial management state specialist for UF’s Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences. “We continue to expand the program to areas where it’s needed the most, including rural areas and city centers hit hardest by high unemployment and a high incidence of home foreclosures.”

Areas cited that have felt a direct benefit in the program’s first year are Florida’s Gulf Coast communities affected by the spring 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, particularly Bay and Walton counties.

Other Florida counties that now have trained mentors include Hillsborough, Osceola, Okaloosa, Miami-Dade, Marion, Alachua, Hernando, Duval, Pinellas and Suwannee.

Bank of America has a history of supporting communities and investing in the economy. The Florida Master Money Mentor program was a good fit with its vision.

Bank of America recently matched its original support of $100,000 with another $100,000 gift to help sustain the mentor program.

“Our support of financial literacy through excellent programs such as Florida Master Money Mentor is central to our core values and represents a key part of our outreach across the state,” said Michael Fields, Bank of America Florida president. “For us, financial education initiatives are more than an investment in individuals, they are investments in the foundation of stronger and more stable communities. Funding these programs is one of the many ways we help set opportunity in motion in rural and low-to-moderate-income communities across Florida.”

“Bank of America’s support has been critical to the success of the mentors program,” said Gutter. “It’s a public-private partnership that is really having a direct positive impact on people’s lives as well as on the economy of Florida.”