11/10/2010: Financial Independence Today (FIT) Program

News From New York State

Senator Shirley L. Huntley

For Immediate Release: November 5, 2010

Contact: Antonio Rodriguez | arodrigu@nysenate.gov | (518) 455-3531

-MEDIA ADVISORY-

Cultivating Community-Based Financial Literacy at Baisley Park Houses

Senator Shirley L. Huntley (D-Jamaica) announced today that she is holding a residents meeting to introduce Financial Independence Today (FIT).

FIT is sponsored by East River Development Alliance Launch (ERDA), United Way of New York City and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Through the FIT Program, ERDA Financial Counselors will work with NYCHA Housing Management to identify and support residents in rental arrears by creating an individualized action plan with specific steps to help move them out of rental arrears, stabilize the residents financially, and work toward the household's economic security. “Participants who have enrolled in the Financial Fitness Program (FFP) for about four months have on average decreased their debt by $1,765 or (24 percent) and increased their savings by $930 or (46 percent), half of FFP clients have zero savings when they start the program.”

The Senator will be joined by representatives from each agency to inform the residents about FIT and how it will help improve resident’s quality of life. FIT is set to start at Baisley Houses on January 1, 2011. ERDA has opened an office located in Astoria Houses, 425 Astoria Boulevard in Long Island City.

Who: Senator Shirley L. Huntley

Bishop Mitchell G. Taylor, President & CEO, East River Development Alliance (ERDA)

Jeremy Reiss, Vice President for Strategy, Organizing and External Affairs, ERDA

Yvonne Simpson, Manager of Baisley Park Houses

Carolyn Jasper, NYCHA Director of Queens/Staten Island Management Department

Brian Honan, Director of Governmental Affairs for NYC Housing Authority

When: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 @ 7:00 pm

Where: Baisley Park Community Center

116-40 Guy R. Brewer Boulevard

Jamaica, New York 11434

For more information, please contact Michelle Reed/Lillian Tennyson at (718) 523-3069