Dr. Angela C. Lyons, Assistant Professor, Department of
Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, presented "And the Survey Says?: A Case Study
of Financial Education in Chicago," a report on an analysis of
the effectiveness of financial literacy training. "Amid growing
concern that the unbanked are inadequately prepared for today's
complex financial marketplace, financial education programs seek
to provide the knowledge needed to enter the banking
mainstream," she said. "Our findings on the FDIC's Money Smart
program in Chicago in drawing the unbanked into the bank was a
two-year effort, using data collected from more than 300
participants. We found that the program was successful in that
80 percent of participants said they were committed to opening
an account, even if the actual numbers opening accounts were
lower. It was agreed that the benefits of financial education
were significant," she said. "The unbanked and former unbanked
alike were found to be making informe