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Money Skills soon to roll out to membership

“I haven’t seen a course where everyone was so excited. Money is a subject you can really sink your teeth into,” says Heather Grant-Jury, director the UFCW Canada Local 832 Training Centre. Grant-Jury was one of 15 UFCW Canada women trainers from across Canada who recently gathered in Surrey, B.C. for a four-day train-the-trainer workshop for a new program to empower UFCW Canada members called Money Skills.

Money Skills is a course in financial literacy that provides options and practical tips on household budgeting and purchasing; dealing with credit and financial institutions; and planning methods to achieve financial goals. The course will initially be offered to members by various UFCW Canada local unions as a one-day, or weekend workshop.

Money Skills was produced by the UFCW Canada National Women’s Advisory Committee, in conjunction with the Family Services of Greater Vancouver (FSGV), a non-profit organization. FSGV facilitator Melanie Buffel (seen in photo right) led the facilitator training held at the UFCW Canada Local 247 Training Centre.

“It shows that partnerships with like minded community agencies can enhance our ability to bring more services to UFCW Canada members,” says Nancy Quiring, UFCW Canada regional director - Western Provinces, and chair of the Women’s Advisory Committee, which set out a year ago to develop a financial skills workshop initially for women members.

“We also asked Heather Grant-Jury to assist our committee throughout the development process. She was incredible in helping us focus on how to make the Money Skills course modules even more relevant to UFCW Canada members.”

According to Grant-Jury “all of us can do better with our money, but you need the knowledge and the chance. Traditionally many women have been denied the opportunity to develop the skills and the confidence to deal with money. It’s about developing a ‘pay ourselves first’ mindset. Money Skills builds that. It shows that some basic skills, everyday practical decisions, and a good plan and budget can make a lifelong difference for members and their families. To start we’re going to launch this to the women members, and eventually roll it out to all the membership.”

"Money Skills can definitely empower members,” says Kelly Nicholas, Co-ordinator of Education and Training for UFCW Canada Local 175. “In the future we can see this also working well as part of youth training. The fact is that everyone focuses on making money, but then the challenge becomes what you do with it? So Money Skills is financial awareness training. It gives you practical tools to make your money work for you.”

The Money Skills course material is now being finalized, based on feedback and from April’s facilitator training session. The workshops will be launched by participating UFCW Canada Local unions later this year.