Arlington Public Library to present a Financial Fitness Festival

Free family event on Saturday, November 6 offers financial tips and resources to help families make more sensible financial decisions.

Arlington, Texas —Financial questions seem to be everywhere right now – from the national debt to our own – and for many people, personal finance questions are often the most difficult to answer. Forty-percent of Central Texas families live at or below the Family Budget Estimator (FBE) income level. The FBE measures the real income required to provide for families’ most essential needs. Texas ranks 43rd in the proportion of households that are ‘asset poor’ and in the percentage of mortgage loans that are subprime.

In order to provide our community members with the resources they need to make informed decisions about their finances, the Arlington Public Library and Literacy Texas through the McGraw-Hill Companies are collaborating to host a Financial Fitness Festival on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at the C.A.F.E Church located at 2200 E. Park Row Drive in Arlington. This event will provide finance tips, bilingual guest speakers, festive children’s activities, and informational booths led by organizations and companies that offer financial services and advice. There will be door prizes throughout the day and incentives for seminar participants. Central Arlington Property Owners (CAPO) and Fiesta Mart are collaborating to support our event by providing families with a Thanksgiving meal for attending the mini seminars.

Mini seminars will cover subjects such as banking basics, budgeting, credit report and managing your credit, and predatory lending. Seminars will be offered in English and Spanish, for adults and teens. Activities for children include face painting, bounce house, crafts and games. There will be free food and door prizes throughout the day.

Participating vendors include Arlington Police Department, Catholic Charities, CHIP, East Arlington Family Resource Center, Educational Community Credit Union (ECCU), Foundation Communities, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Texas AgriLife Extension Service – Tarrant County, Tarrant County Credit Union (TCCU), United Way Tarrant County, Wells Fargo, Woodforest National Bank, and more.

The event is free and open to the public. For a complete schedule of events call 817-459-6925. To participate as a vendor or volunteer, please contact Norma Zuniga at norma.zuniga@arlingtontx.gov.