PHILADELPHIA, PA – Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor today kicked off his Financial Literacy Month tour at SELF Inc.’s ‘SELF Care Café’ in Philadelphia to help highlight financial literacy resources for individuals in the community looking to secure permanent housing.
“Understanding how to ‘Be Money Smart’ is critical to Pennsylvania’s future financial success,” Auditor General DeFoor said. “Our goal is to get financial literacy resources into the hands of every person in every community. If we work together, we can make our commonwealth stronger and more financially secure.”
Auditor General DeFoor led a financial literacy-themed discussion with experts from the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, AARP’s Philadelphia Office, and the Philadelphia Federal Credit Union.
National Financial Literacy Month is celebrated each year in April and was created to emphasize the importance of being financially literate and encourage people to learn about the ways they can become financially smart. Throughout the month, Auditor General DeFoor will be traveling across Pennsylvania to highlight the need for financial literacy education and promote resources that everyone can use to help them become financially secure. Auditor General DeFoor will also be partnering with PSECU on ‘Money Smart Mondays’, which will provide Pennsylvanians of all ages with tips on how they can manage and protect their money.
DeFoor has spent nearly three years promoting financial literacy across the state as part of his ‘Be Money Smart’ initiative. Since the launch in 2021, DeFoor has:
- Completed a statewide financial literacy tour to raise awareness about the need for financial literacy legislation in Pennsylvania;
- Visited all state and state related universities in Pennsylvania to talk about job and internship opportunities within the department and the importance of knowing how your money works;
- Met with students participating in the State YMCA of Pennsylvania Youth and Government program and visited several YMCAs across the state to talk about financial literacy;
- Worked with Junior Achievement to emphasize financial literacy messages to elementary school students;
- Partnered with local financial institutions to provide financial literacy resources to the public; and
- Partnered with Harrisburg University of Science and Technology and Members 1st to coordinate a statewide financial literacy competition for high school students in Pennsylvania.
For more information on the Department of the Auditor General’s financial literacy efforts, visit www.PaAuditor.gov/BeMoneySmart
# # #
Media contact: April Hutcheson, 717-787-1381 or ahutcheson@paauditor.gov
# # #