Made of Money
is the financial wellbeing service run by Quaker Social Action. It supports people in East London and beyond to manage the challenges of being on a lower income, to have a better quality of life.
Made of Money has developed Building the Money Springboard, in partnership with the children and young people, staff and foster carers at St Christopher’s Fellowship. This work was funded by the Money & Pensions Service during 2023-4, as part of their work to improve outcomes for Vulnerable Children & Young People.
Building the Money Springboard offers training and resources for practitioners and foster carers who support children and young people in care or leaving care, to learn money skills. Drawing on the informal education approach often used in youth work, it supports the adults who are spending time with children and young people in care on an everyday basis, to use informal conversations and situations for more positive and affirming money learning. The resources have been co-created with children and young people in care to address the topics they are concerned and excited about and draw on topics identified by staff and foster carers.
This project offers a trauma-informed way of working, recognising that for many people money learning is not as simple as introducing a person to a fact or tool and expecting behaviour change. The focus is on equipping the adults looking after children and young people to find the moments in everyday life and to provide simple, clear ideas for conversations. It links to succinct, often fun, follow-up resources from a wide range of sources, for practitioners to either research further for themselves or to share with young people. This opens up ways to deliver learning positively, sensitively and flexibly enough to engage children and young people who might struggle to participate effectively in more formal learning settings.
When we asked participants about their experience of training:
Participants told us:
(It was helpful to) … “Be reminded of negative responses from children, which are trauma related and be more mindful on more constructive approaches.”
“I thought the pie chart concept was very good as it is a visual aid that would be easy for a young person to understand. Also, the budgeting calculator was excellent.”
If you would like to talk to us about this, or other Made of Money work, please don’t hesitate to contact Carrie Comfort at madeofmoney@qsa.org.uk