Pioneer Library System partnered with the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Central Oklahoma and employers and local governments in the hometowns of its 10 member libraries to offer “Fiscally Fit Boot Camps” to employees. Each boot camp comprised six modules: Your Fiscal Strength (examining money attitudes); Booyah for Your Budget (how to build a saving and spending plan and stick to it); Credit Crunches (understanding credit reports and credit scores); Basic Training for Borrowing (examining loan types and loan features); Debt Drills (strategies for paying down debt); and Staying Fiscally Fit (saving and investing for longer-term goals).
Key Activities:
- Established financial fitness display areas in each of its 10 libraries across central Oklahoma and at other community locations.
- With assistance from the Consumer Credit Counseling Service, developed and distributed a series of resource cards covering topics mirroring the six-week agenda of the Fiscally Fit Boot Camp Series.
- Conducted six-part Fiscally Fit Boot Camp Series in Moore, Norman, South Oklahoma City, Purcell, Noble, Shawnee, Blanchard, Newcastle (in partnership with a local employer), Tecumseh (in partnership with Citizen Potawatomi Nation), and McLoud (at the Kickapoo Tribal Center). A separate boot camp was conducted for staff employed by Pioneer’s member libraries.
- Hosted Fiscally Fit Boot Camp Reunions to check-in on progress and provide further encouragement to help past participants reach their financial goals.
- Conducted outreach efforts and mobile financial fitness resource centers at the City of Purcell Wellness Event, library book clubs, various chamber of commerce events, Women of the South (a civic organization in the South Oklahoma City area), the Rural Enterprises Women’s Business Center, area Rotary and homebuilder associations, and Jobs for Life (a group that provides assistance to women who have been released from incarceration and are working on getting their lives back together).
