FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 12, 2005 Contact: Foua Hang or Wilhelmina Holder at 651-646-3268 New Financial Literacy Initiative for Immigrants to Help Build Wealth ST. PAUL, MN – The Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE) announces its new Financial Literacy program for immigrants. This new initiative is a collaboration between several immigrant and refugee non-profit organizations in the Twin Cities to encourage immigrant and refugee households to build wealth as part of the larger “Immigrant Wealth Campaign.” “Immigrant and refugee women are learning more about savings, avoiding debt, using credit wisely, and protecting the available assets of their families,” says Wilhelmina Holder, Executive Director of WISE. The consortium financial literacy coordinators, who are former immigrants and refugees, say, “WOW, wish we would have known this information when we first arrived in the United States.” Developed by a local long-time consumer credit counselor and author of the Four Corner Stone Financial Literacy Curriculum, Daryl Dahlheimer, the curriculum is culturally and linguistically appropriate. It provides unbiased, one-on-one financial counseling and workshops in three primary subject areas: home buying; savings and investments; and asset protection and insurance. Along with building immigrant wealth, the goal of the program is to build the capacity of immigrant and refugee organizations that serve Southeast Asians and Latino communities. Building the capacity of these organizations to provide the Financial Literacy Awareness training - “Becoming Part of Wealth in America” - is a key step to the success of the program. This will be accomplished by coordinating the activities of the multi-cultural/lingual providers and certifying financial literacy trainers. WISE is non-profit, multicultural, women led nonprofit organization started in 1995 - by and for immigrant women- in order to help them adjust to their new lives in Minnesota. Since its inception, WISE has broadened its mission and purpose from providing direct services to empowering immigrant women and girls to succeed by creating leadership development opportunities. WISE serves Asian, African, and Latina immigrant and refugee women and girls from all countries, cultures and social economic backgrounds. Financial assistance for the program was provided by The McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota Office of Economic Opportunity. ###########