Personal Finance Course Becomes Accessible For Currently And Formerly Incarcerated Women

Money Experience, the innovative edtech company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, today announced that the Televerde Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the mission to provide currently and formerly incarcerated women the skills to join and succeed within the global workforce, will utilize its online personal finance course as part of the foundation’s PATHS Program. Standing for Prepare, Achieve and Transform for Healthy Success, PATHS is a robust workforce development program that focuses on personal wellness, workplace readiness, employment strategies, financial literacy, lifelong learning and mentoring.

Televerde Foundation empowers currently and formerly incarcerated women with the skills they need to build rewarding professional careers and successfully reintegrate back into their communities. Using Money Experience’s Essentials program, instructors will be able to blend classroom-based curriculum, software simulation and storytelling to offer these women a big picture look at how their decisions – particularly ones made once they’re released from incarceration – can impact not only their near- and long-term lifestyle goals, but also their long-term financial health.

“Our entire mission is dedicated to the personal and professional development of currently and formerly incarcerated women,” said Michelle Cirocco, executive director of Televerde Foundation. “Women have far fewer programming options – such as education, job training and 12-step programs – than men while in prison, which puts them at a severe disadvantage upon release. By working with innovative companies like Money Experience, we hope to change this. Lack of financial literacy is an obstacle for so many people, especially women, and Money Experience’s program will help us teach that essential life skill that is needed to become successful upon release.”

PATHS will officially launch Money Experience’s curriculum in July. The Money Experience curriculum will be part of the overall PATHS course, which also includes an interactive teaching and journaling component from The Change Companies and Professional Development Curriculum designed and delivered by full-time MBA students from the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

“Financial literacy is vital when planning for the future and this is especially true for individuals released from incarceration,” said Brilene Faherty, curriculum director at Money Experience. “Money Experience’s Essentials program offers an engaging, personalized approach to financial literacy education that we hope will reduce recidivism by providing basic knowledge of managing one’s finances.”

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