DURHAM, NH - The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire has been selected to participate in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Financial Empowerment: Focus on People with Disabilities 2017 Cohort. It is one of 30 organizations across the United States selected to participate.
This project is a partnership between the CFPB and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to support disability service organizations to integrate CFPB’s Your Money, Your Goals, a set of financial empowerment materials for organizations that help people meet their financial goals by increasing their knowledge, skills, and resources, and FDIC’s Money Smart, a comprehensive financial education curriculum designed to help low- and moderate-income individuals outside the financial mainstream enhance their financial skills and create positive banking relationships, into their delivery service models.
“People with disabilities, like all consumers, deserve fair treatment and access to the information, tools, and support they need to enhance their financial well-being,” shares Dr. Tobey Partch-Davies, Project Director. “These products will increase financial inclusion and opportunity for people with disabilities and their families as they work to build their skills and manage their financial lives. ’”
As a member of the cohort, the IOD plans to enhance their delivery of financial capability information by providing Your Money, Your Goals and Money Smart train-the-trainer trainings and technical assistance to personnel working in the area of transition, vocational rehabilitation, employment, case management, education and special education, advocacy, and independent living. Regional and statewide coalitions working to improve financial well-being will also be engaged in the process to connect financial capability services to people with disabilities in New Hampshire. The first training will take place on November 27, 2017 in Concord, NH. Learn more about the upcoming training and register at www.iod.unh.edu/yourmoneyyourgoals.
Tobey Partch-Davies, Ph.D., M.S., M.A., is currently the Project Director on Poverty and Disability at the UNH-Institute on Disability, and an instructor for UNH-Discovery Program where she teaches The Right to Be Disabled. Her work consists of coordinating research and evaluation projects funded by government agencies, private foundations and private contractors. Her scholarly agenda involves the social determinants of health with a special focus on financial capability and poverty among individuals with disabilities, and more recently the use of an implementation science framework for evaluating evidence based practices. Prior to her work as a researcher, she coordinated employment and community based services in partnership with Vocational Rehabilitation, the Area Agency system, and community rehabilitation providers. Since then she has led multiple studies investigating the effects of workforce development, work incentives, financial coaching, and asset accumulation on the socio-economic status of persons with disabilities and minorities. She is currently leading several investigations related to the fidelity of implementation of an evidenced based home visiting practice and its effects on maternal and child health.
