| (09/22/08) - Akron is the first city in the
nation to become a ''Savings Community'' in a special initiative by the U.S. Conference of
Mayors (USCM) and America Saves, a nonprofit group that encourages consumer savings and
debt reduction. Akron was chosen, in part, because
of Mayor Don Plusquellic's leadership of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2004 and 2005,
during which time the Dollarwise savings program was launched.  Savings Communities Initiative is
a product of the non-profit Consumer Federation of America and the USCM
The special program begins the week of September 22, 2008
as part of Dollarwise Week, a financial education program focusing on schools. The initiative will continue until America Saves Week,
which starts Feb. 22, 2009.
The initiative hopes to get Akron to come up with a savings
goal of $1 million by giving individuals opportunities to partner with money counselors to
remake their budgets and to offer other financial education.
Akron's project is the first of its kind in the nation. “This is a pilot program,” said Dustin Joyce of
the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “It is one step
toward modifying people’s behavior, changing the mindset to one of accruing savings,
not debt.”
Plusquellic equated its potential success with other
behavior modification efforts such as Keep America Beautiful (litter reduction), Project
Learn for literacy and numerous stop smoking efforts.
“The reason most of these have worked,” said
Plusquellic, “is that we started with children in school. They then brought the message home to mom and dad. Maybe it was ‘don’t litter’ or it was
about learning to read or ‘stop smoking’. What
we have learned is that the message is loud and clear when it comes from our kids.”
America’s overall rate of personal savings is near
zero, according to George Barany of the Consumer Federation of America. He is its director of financial education.
“Local leadership is really the key to providing the
encouragement and support people need to be able to change their habits,” Barany
said. “This is especially difficult for lower
income folks, so we are pleased by the level of support we see in Akron from the mayor and
the banking and non-profit communities.”
The centerpiece of the initiative is a coalition of local
employers, financial institutions, non-profits and others that promotes a message of
personal savings and provides concrete opportunities to help people save.
For a bank or credit union, that could mean offering and
promoting a no-fee savings account. An employer
could work to boost participation in a workplace retirement program. A non –profit could offer financial counseling or
education.
Together, members of the savings coalition will track and
publicize the goal and the effort and report final results in February during America
Saves Week.
Go to www.AkronSaves.org
for more information.
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