by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid “CAREs” about the financial future of students in the Duval County School system, and it needs more CARE givers.
The care in JALACARE stands for Credit Abuse Resistance Education and its goal is to educate area students on the dangers of consumer debt and make them more financially literate. The second-year program taught about 600 Duval County 9th graders last year and program director April Charney hopes to more than double that number during the new school year.
“The only limitation we have is how many lawyers with a pulse we have to get out and teach financial literacy,” said Charney. “Our goal is to raise an army of lawyers to teach financial education.”
Besides the opportunity to contribute to the community, instructors can earn both Continuing Legal Education(CLE) and pro bono credit while participating in the program.
Training sessions are about two and a half hours long and are scheduled for Aug. 12 and Aug. 19, both at 5:30 p.m., at the JALA offices at 126 West Adams St.
“This is a great opportunity for the law community,” said Charney. “Lawyers go into schools in all kinds of roles, but usually not as lawyers.”
The curriculum includes predesigned lesson plans, in-class worksheets, group exercises and take-home handouts.
These devices are used to cover topics including, credit cards, credit score, debt, interest payments, loans, financial traps, goal setting, saving, budgeting, reducing debt, and financial terms.
The course is taught in two 90-minute sessions during economics class and will shift to the senior class this year. Schools that participated last year include Jackson, Raines, Ribault, Forrest, Lee, Parker, Englewood, and Fletcher.
“I realize it’s outside of our normal comfort zone to go and teach high school students, but we owe it to the community,” said Charney. “Teachers are overwhelmed, we just want to come in and be a resource.”
The program may see a little change of focus as it progresses from ninth graders to seniors.
“With the 9th graders, it was all new to them,” said Dana Duncan, instructor and commercial real estate attorney with Foley & Lardner. “They thought credit cards were free money, so it was interesting to enlighten them and explain how credit works.”
For more information contact April Charney at 356-8371.
356-2466