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Students Learn Some Money Sense

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By LENORA LAKE

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 21, 2008

UNIVERSITY AREA - Pamela Perez said she wants a place she can call her own - and to be able to go shopping.

"I lost my two-bedroom, two-bath house. I lost my job," said Perez, 23, a single mother of three. "I made some stupid mistakes. I would get paid, and it was all gone in a day."

Perez is living in her mother's apartment in South Tampa with her 18-year-old sister, Valerie. Her sister does all the shopping, so as not to tempt Perez into buying something unnecessary.

But Perez is trying to make changes. She and her sister are attending a six-week, free financial literacy course called Your Money Counts. Valerie Perez, who will start college in August, wants to avoid mistakes and responsibly manage her money while at the University of Central Florida.

The course is a pilot program being offered at the University Area Social Services Center on North 22nd Street. The classes are taught by instructors from two nonprofit organizations, the Tampa Bay Faith-Based Alliance and the Greater Mount Carmel Development Corp. It could be expanded to another social services center depending on its success and Hillsborough County's budget.

The course is part of a "prosperity" campaign sponsored through the Hillsborough County Health and Social Services Department, said senior social services specialist Velma Rodgers, who added that 20 students graduated recently from the first course.

The campaign was established, in part, to ensure that low-income residents got their rebate through the federal economic stimulus package and that they use the money wisely, Rodgers said. The attendees also get $10 per session for participating and $100 for completing the course.

Instructor Dee Merritt Bell talked about getting money such as the rebate during a recent class.

"If I have any extra income, I put it three places: I pay myself, even if it's only a $5 pair of sandals; I put some in savings; and I pay down debt," Bell told the 20 attendees.

"Millionaires watch their money, too. That's how they stay millionaires."

Topics for the course include budgeting, establishing credit and using it properly, banking and insurance.

The class May 5 focused mainly on understanding a credit report, improving credit scores and avoiding identify theft. Andrea Mitchell, who worked for 14 years in the mortgage and financial fields, led the program.

"Everything that is out there, we are going to bring it home to you," Mitchell said.

She focused on using credit cards wisely.

"Sometimes we put things that aren't gas on gas credit cards, so you are paying for a soda for three months," she told the students, who ranged in age from 18 to their 50s.

Michelle McMillen, 51, and her son Charles, 31, are attending the class together. The family has a franchise business.

"This is giving me some confidence and getting me to focus," Michelle McMillen said. "I have just not been focused. It's very difficult to stay on a stringent budget."

Pamela Perez hopes to move forward within the next year.

"I want to get my diploma, I want to go to Erwin Technical Center, I want to start a savings account, and I want to get to shop again," Perez said.

Tribune correspondent Lenora Lake can be reached at (813) 865-4851 or llake@tampatrib.com.

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