This effort to formalize financial education standards began in 2012. An initial set of standards was finalized by an internal Initiative work group in 2013. The first version of the standards were recommended to all partners for adoption in 2014, and were planned to become required in 2015. However, the initial pilot period identified barriers to adoption. Those barriers included an absence of comprehensive curricula and a sustainable training plan for staff.
In 2015, the working group reconvened to address those barriers and to revise the FE Standards based on experience with the pilot. Working with Inger Giuffrida, a national expert in financial education and asset building, these standards were first published in 2017. In 2018, an FE Standards training was organized for IDA Providers, and a work group led by Julie Wang, convened to provide guidance and evaluate curriculum that was submitted for the FE Standards Resource Library. In 2019, various updates to the FE Standards were made, to include a “Topic” section, to identify 12 baseline topics for IDA FE, and add and edit various pieces of Core Content, Process Recommendations, and Participant Outcomes.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the development of these standards and for your work guiding us in implementation.
Contributors to the FE Standards
- Lisa Aldridge – NeighborWorks Umpqua
- Allison Barber- Community Vision
- Rebekah Bassett–CASA of Oregon
- Sabrina Biffer –IRCO
- Luke Bonham- Neighborhood Partnerships
- Frank Boothby – College Dreams
- Kate Bovitz – Portland Housing Center
- Jackie Butts – Portland Housing Center
- Janet Byrd – Neighborhood Partnerships
- Quin Collins – College Dreams
- Stacey Daniel – NeighborWorks Umpqua
- Tina Do –IRCO
- Nettie Dickson – Warms Springs Community Action Team
- Riley Eldredge –MESO
- Carlos David Garcia- Neighborhood Partnerships
- Inger Giuffrida- Financial Education Consultant
- Laina Green – Neighborhood Partnerships
- Leah Guliasi – Warms Springs Community Action Team
- Rachell Hall- Innovative Changes
- Amy Hamilton – DevNW
- Sailor Holladay –CASA of Oregon
- Jessica Junke – Neighborhood Partnerships
- Ross Kanaga –DevNW
- Loretta Kelly –NAYA Family Center
- Cecilia Lente –NAYA Family Center
- Laura Locker – Mercy Corps Northwest
- Demus Martinez- Warm Springs Community Action Team
- Ryan Parker –NAYA Family Center
- Karan Reed – NeighborWorks Umpqua
- Karen Saxe –DevNW
- Hoa Tran –IRCO
- Julie Wang- Financial Education Consultant
- Chris Watson – Warms Springs Community Action Team