For parents navigating the early years of raising a family, financial stress can add another layer of difficulty to an already demanding time. For families who are new to Canada, living on a low income or raising children without a strong support network, learning how to manage money and navigate Canada’s financial system can be especially valuable.
At Vita Centre in Ontario’s Peel Region, financial literacy has become an important part of helping parents build the skills and confidence they need to support their families.
Vita Centre works with pregnant individuals and families with children under six who may be experiencing a range of vulnerabilities. Many are newcomers to Canada, single parents, living on a low income or isolated from extended family and other sources of support.
“Often, it’s a combination of different challenges,” says Susan Robins, Program Manager at Vita Centre.
The organization provides one-to-one counselling, including emotional support and case management, as well as group programs designed to strengthen parents’ skills, knowledge and confidence. Financial literacy is one of the primary life skills incorporated into its programming.
Some participants are looking for strategies to manage debt or create a spending plan. Others are newcomers who may be opening a Canadian bank account for the first time and learning how the country’s financial system works. Some may also have experienced financial abuse, making it especially important that financial education is delivered in a supportive and respectful way.
“Financial literacy is really aligned with the needs of our clients,” says Robins. “Some are banking in Canada for the first time, while others want to learn about debt management, creating a spending plan or ways to save.”
That made Money Matters — a free financial literacy program from ABC Life Literacy Canada — a natural fit.
Letting parents choose what they want to learn
Vita Centre runs several group programs, including Growing as Parents — a 10-week virtual series that runs three times a year and covers topics from child development and bedtime routines to potty training and other parenting and life skills. Two of the ten sessions are dedicated to Money Matters topics.
During the first session, participants get to know one another, learn about each other’s families and begin building a sense of community. They are also presented with the available Money Matters topics and vote on the ones they are most interested in learning about. This means the financial literacy sessions can respond directly to what matters most to each group.
Growing as Parents follows adult education principles, recognizing that participants bring their own knowledge and lived experiences to the conversation. Rather than simply telling parents what they need to know, facilitators encourage discussion and participation.
Money Matters fits well into this philosophy.
“The program is very respectful,” says Robins. “The content is designed to be participatory, and it provides enough information that it’s useful for our participants while acknowledging the lived experience they already have.”
From budgeting to avoiding online scams
While interests vary, Vita Centre has found that Banking Basics and Ways to Save are particularly popular with participants.
During Ways to Save, parents learn about different approaches to budgeting and have an opportunity to look at how they are spending their money. Those conversations often expand into participants sharing their own money-saving strategies, including deals they have found, opportunities to price match and areas where they may be able to reduce expenses.
Banking Basics also generates plenty of discussion, particularly when the conversation turns to phishing and financial scams.
“Unfortunately, some of these scams have happened to our clients,” Robins says. “The feedback we get is, ‘Thank you for shedding light on this topic,’ because a lot of them are not sure if these are scams or not.”
This can be especially helpful for newcomers who may be unfamiliar with Canadian financial institutions or unsure what legitimate communications from a bank or other organization should look like.
Participants also share their own experiences with the group, allowing everyone to learn from one another.
Creating a space to learn from each other
That exchange of knowledge is one of the reasons Money Matters works so well within Vita Centre’s broader programming.
Financial literacy isn’t treated as a lecture or a set of rules people should already know. Instead, participants have a chance to ask questions, discuss their experiences and learn practical strategies they can apply in their everyday lives.
The flexibility of Money Matters has also made it easy for Vita Centre to incorporate the program into its existing programming. Workshops are delivered virtually using digital workbooks, and the organization can select topics based on the needs and interests of each group.
After five years of delivering Money Matters, financial literacy has become a natural extension of Vita Centre’s goal of helping parents build their confidence and strengthen their families.
To learn more about Money Matters, to access free resources, or to bring a workshop to your organization, visit abcmoneymatters.ca.
