In this issue:
1. Set Your "Sites" on Saving: Cleveland Saves Sites are Key to Success
2. Volunteers Make Saves' Work Possible
3. Mark Your Calendars for Roll Your Change Week
4. The Numbers Tell the Story
5. Are You Up to the Challenge? Savings Strategies to Help You Reach Your Goal
6. Coming Soon. . . Pay Yourself First

SET YOUR "SITES" ON SAVING:
CLEVELAND SAVES SITES ARE
KEY TO SUCCESS

A Cleveland Saves site is a place where employees or clients can be enrolled as Savers and can access important and ongoing Cleveland Saves programming. Traditionally, Cleveland Saves sites have been workplaces, but more and more, organizations are signing on to become sites so they can offer the benefits of Cleveland saves to their clients.

Erin Mansfield, Branch Manager of Ohio Savings Bank Cedar office in Cleveland Heights leads a model Cleveland Saves site. She and her staff have been enrolling Savers in earnest since last winter. “I got personally motivated to encourage Saver enrollment through the Cleveland Saves Roll Your Change Week,” Erin noted.  She and her staff “take the time to talk” to customers and find out their needs, especially those who come each month to cash checks.  They then work with individual customers to enroll them as Cleveland Savers and provide them access to savings accounts and information about financial goal-setting, wealth-building and more.

Linda Johnson, Career Advisor for Vocational Guidance Services (VGS), has established a Saves site at VGS' E. 55th Street location.  Linda works with customers who are entering the workforce through a transitional job program.  With help from Cleveland Saves, Linda offers VGS clients a host of workshops with topics such as budgeting, managing debt, credit reports and identity theft. “Cleveland Saves has reached hundreds of our consumers with timely money management education topics,” Linda explained.  These messages are especially important for her consumers as they will be entering or reentering the workforce and need to retain as much of their wages as they can.

Finally, Kenisha Pierce, Office Manager of the Broadway/E. 71st Street branch of National City Bank echoed the comments of Linda Johnson and Erin Mansfield.  The branch has been enrolling over 30 Savers per month, and for Kenisha it is as simple as “helping people meet their financial goals by listening to them.”  Kenisha and her team are now also talking about conducting financial education seminars at their site. Cleveland Saves sites play a critical role in encouraging healthy savings and wealth-buidling behaviors in greater Clevelanders. Even though the sites' work often goes unnoticed, they are an important key to Saves' success.

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VOLUNTEERS MAKE SAVES' WORK POSSIBLE

Whoever said “there is no such thing as a free lunch” wasn't at the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank on April 25, 2006 for the first Cleveland Saves Volunteer Appreciation lunch. Almost 50 Saves volunteers, staff and Board members attended. The Federal Reserve Bank's impressive 10 th floor auditorium was donated by Board member and Federal Reserve Bank employee Ruth Clevenger.  The luncheon honored volunteer workshop leaders, coaches and Cleveland Saves leaders.  Certificates of appreciation were given and local elected officials recognized Cleveland Saves volunteer efforts with proclamations.  Thank you to all of Cleveland Saves' volunteers!

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MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR
ROLL YOUR CHANGE WEEK,
OCTOBER 16-21, 2006

Did you know that there is over $10 billion dollars in loose change sitting in homes and cars across America not earning a nickel of interest?  That breaks down to approximately $99 of loose change per family!  How about earning interest on your pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters by participating in Cleveland Saves' Fourth Annual Roll Your Change Week scheduled for October 16-21, 2006?

During this weeklong event, we are encouraging all greater Clevelanders to make a deposit of rolled change at any of the area's participating financial institutions. This is a great opportunity to open a new Cleveland Saves savings account or to make a deposit into your existing savings account. So, walk. . . no, RUN to your closet, car and sofa cushions and pull out your change so it can start working for you!

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THE NUMBERS TELL THE STORY

Cleveland Saves' momentum continues to build, and the numbers tell the story of Saves' success. More than 7,500 Savers have enrolled in the Cleveland Saves program. Cleveland has more Savers signed up than any other community in the United States. Collectively, Cleveland Savers have saved or reduced debt by over $5,400,000. 

In this 2006 alone, more than 150 saving and wealth-building workshops have been conducted for Cleveland Savers. Cleveland Saves is well on the way towards meeting its goal to enroll 1,500 new Savers in 2006. 

If you have friends, family or coworkers who haven't yet enrolled as a Cleveland Saver, invite them to call our Moneyline at (216) 325-7126.

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ARE YOU UP TO THE CHALLENGE?
SAVINGS STRATEGIES TO HELP
YOU REACH YOUR GOALS
first article in four-part series

Do you want to have an emergency fund, go on a dream vacation, purchase a home, enroll in school or have some other savings goal? If so, accept the Cleveland Saves Challenge—a yearlong series of strategies, tools, support and encouragement that will help you realize your savings goal. In a year's time, you will enjoy the fruits of your labor when you reach your savings goal. While homeownership or setting off for a dream vacation may seem as far off as a snowy day in mid-August, we at Cleveland Saves know that you can reach your savings goal by starting to save today.

So, let's make our dreams come true in one year's time by taking the following steps:

1. Create a workable budget, taking into consideration all of the items which you spend money on.
   
2. Reduce your debt by getting your bills under control. This will enable you to free up cash which you can deposit into your savings account. Get rid of high-interest credit cards. Call your creditors to negotiate a payment schedule. Then make your payments as agreed. Lastly, just stop using those credit cards!
   
3. Calculate how much you need to save to reach your savings goal. Create a savings chart which enables you to see your progress as the months pass.
   
4. Cut back, cut back!!! Look for areas in your budget where you can cut back and then cut back a little more. Be creative—think about reducing your cable to basic cable or avoid buying coffee from the local coffee. Calculate how much you spend weekly on items like these and then multiply your result by 52. This is the amount of money you could be putting into a savings account with a little bit of cutting back.
   
5. Set reasonable spending guidelines and only spend the money you have. Do not overspend…no matter what. It will be hard to stick to your new savings habit at first and there will be temptations, but when you can clearly see your goal in front of you, it will become easier and easier.
   
6. Ask your employer to direct deposit your savings to your savings account. This is one of the easiest ways to make sure that you are moving closer to your savings goal.

Remember that your new budget will ensure that you are constantly moving closer to your savings goal. Keep striving to make your dreams come true… and in a year's time, Cleveland Saves hopes to see you in a new home, on a trip to some far off island or enrolled in a new educational program. Your dreams are reachable and if you accept our challenge and start saving today, your hard work and effort will reward you tremendously.

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coming soon. . .

Pay Yourself First!

Cleveland Saves Week * March 2007

a new initiative to bring together hundreds of Cleveland area organizations to promote greater household savings in Northeast Ohio

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Cleveland Saves is a local campaign in which a broad coalition of non-profit, corporate, and government groups helps area residents save and build wealth. Through free information, advice, and encouragement, we assist those who wish to pay down debt, build an emergency fund, save for a home, save for an education, or save for retirement.

Learn more by visiting www.clevelandsaves.org or by calling the Moneyline at 216-325-7126.