Schaumburg Township District Library and its partners (including the University of Illinois Extension) organized and trained a network of local employment counselors and social service agencies to act as intermediaries in the provision of basic personal finance information and to refer clients to the resources and programs available at and through the library.
Key Activities:
- Incorporated a personal finance center into the library’s website, featuring an “ask-a-personal-finance-expert” service staffed by an educator from the University of Illinois Extension.
- Created an in-library personal finance center with relevant collections and dedicated workstations.
- Organized social service provider trainings led by University of Illinois Extension faculty. Participating providers included job counselors, as well as staff from family services agencies, the YWCA, local churches, homeless shelters, women’s services agencies, community colleges, police departments, and unemployment agencies. The training incorporated a tour of the library’s personal finance centers (virtual and physical) and equipped service providers with the skills to recognize when clients might need help with financial issues.
- Undertook a strategic communications campaign inclusive of monthly, story-driven in-library displays, staff-led tours of the library’s personal finance center, media outreach, and a social media campaign. The library hosted editorial staff from local newspapers at a kick-off event.
- With Extension faculty, delivered public programming for Schaumburg residents in conjunction with the library’s Personal Finance Empowerment Week and the national Money Smart Week. This helped to reinforce the role of the library in meeting the community’s financial literacy needs.
