City of Tifton hosts Financial Literacy Initiative Workshop

TIFTON, Ga. – The City of Tifton hosts a financial literacy class, aiming to equip residents with the essential skills for better financial management and planning.

Tifton’s January Financial Literacy Initiative Workshop empowers residents to achieve their financial goals through a free class. Participants were granted the opportunity to create personalized budgets, building on the success of last year’s session, which educated residents on effective expenses and savings management.

In its second year, the workshop, in collaboration with Georgia Power, Tifton Area Manager Toni Reid, aims to enhance financial literacy within the community.

“First of all, we started with you when we started with just the basics, you know, budgeting expenses, you know, looking at your credit report, credit scores, learning how to become wealthy, and preparing for emergencies. Income decreases, but the bills are still there, what do you do? So, we looked at that array of classes, it was 12 good months of good stuff. So, as we were coming up with the classes or determining which classes we wanted to do for this year, to me it was very important that we had a baseline in terms of, you know, having the budgeting piece. You got to know where your money is because whenever the banks start asking you for different documents and things like that, you’ve got to be able to have access to all of that information,” said Dr. Tonja Tift, Executive Director of the Urban Redevelopment Agency.

With 60% of Tifton residents being renters, the Financial Literacy Initiative Workshop shifts its focus toward homeownership.

Dr. Tonja Tift, Executive Director of the Urban Redevelopment Agency for the City of Tifton, elaborates on the workshop’s emphasis on promoting and educating residents about homeownership opportunities.

“This year with us focusing on homeownership, you know, we’re gearing the classes toward that. You know, how do you talk to the lenders? You know, what questions do you ask? How do you go about finding your home? Knowing what the process or the steps are to doing the homeownership. Because some lending programs, they require that you have some type of certification, that you go through some home ownership program. And, so, the people that we are bringing in this year, those are going to be good people certified to talk about what needs to be done. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to implement toward the end of the year, they’ll get this certificate that they’ll be able to put in their packet, you know, as they’re getting ready to buy and purchase a home,” she said.

De’Andra Jacobs reporting.

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