Tips and Tools For Financial Success - Newton Free Library

Background and Acknowledgments
Financial Literacy at the Library was held at the Newton Free Library from October 2010
through July 2012. Its goal was to offer a basic program in financial education that was
accessible to all members of the community.
Supported by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation through Smart investing
@ your library®, a partnership with the American Library Association, it presented the FDIC
Money Smart curriculum in its entirety and hosted guest speakers at monthly meetings. Through
in-house events and online resources, Financial Literacy at the Library helped many newcomers
and long term residents of the Metro Boston area become more competent and confident users of
financial services.
We would like to acknowledge American Consumer Credit Counseling, Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation and FINRA Investor Education Foundation for their significant contributions to
this project as well as permission to reproduce materials for this booklet. We appreciate the
support of the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce and the Newton Senior Center who
faithfully publicized our events in their monthly newsletters, Whole Foods Market for donations
of refreshments and NewTV for broadcasting Event videos. A special acknowledgement for
our partner, The Second Step, Newton, MA who welcomed and coordinated the delivery of our
financial education curriculum to its client population.
We would also like to thank the following individuals who generously gave of their time and
expertise: Kathleen Barrett and Katie Ross, American Consumer Credit Counseling; Tim
DeLessio, Boston office, FDIC; Roberta Rosenberg, Roberta Woods-Dunham, Carol Thompson,
Liz Meffen and Claudia Segura, The Second Step; Ana Gonzalez, City of Newton Department of
Human Services; Robert Kane and Tom Donnellan, Newton North High School; Michael Yip,
Celestial Media; Newton Free Library volunteers: Irene Harrison, Lucy Caldwell-Stair, Peter
Kalil; and our Guest Speakers: Kip Child, FDIC; Deborah Bloomberg, Federal Reserve Bank of
Boston; Susan Caulfield, Newton Free Library; Francine Kollias, Social Security Administration;
Christine Kieffer, FINRA Investor Education Foundation; Martha Savery, Massachusetts
Educational Financing Authority; William J. Brisk, Esq.; Barbara Anthony, Massachusetts Office
of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation; Linda Kaplan, Massachusetts Department of
Revenue; David P. Simon, Bentley University; Barbara Chandler, Metropolitan Boston Housing
Partnership; Joshua S. Grinspoon, U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Congressman
Barney Frank, The Fourth District of Massachusetts.
We especially would like to thank Burt and Judy Lavine for the contribution of their graphic
design skills on many of our publicity flyers and in particular for the cover of this publication.
We would like to express a very special thank you to Roberto Mighty of Celestial Media whose
expert video recordings have allowed us to extend our reach beyond the physical walls of the
Newton Free Library into the virtual world. With much gratitude, we would like to acknowledge
the contribution of Julie Soforenko whose clear voice and thoughtful explanations brought the
FDIC Money Smart curriculum to life for our auditorium and online audience.
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