Family Resource Management

Too many individuals and families are experiencing financial crisis because of disasters, inadequate savings, too much debt, and poor planning for potential major life events. Extension faculty conduct educational programs to build the capacity of high school teachers to deliver financial management concepts to their students. Over 475 teachers have completed a six-hour financial management course and indicate that they will use the information to reach over 41,000 high school students annually.

Extension programs, including the Parents Preparing for Success program, equip limited resource families with the tools to become self-sufficient and transition from public assistance to the workforce. Programs address financial goal setting, developing a spending plan, saving for emergencies, debt reduction, high cost money traps, Earned Income Tax Credit, entering the workforce, child care and transportation needs, financial decision making, and communication. To date, over 4,000 public assistance recipients have completed these programs, creating phenomenal savings for Louisiana taxpayers.

Building stronger, safer and smarter Louisiana homes for our citizens is a prerequisite for out state’s recovery from the destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Louisiana House Home and Landscape Resource Center educates homebuilders and remodelers, accentuating the need for sustainable housing to withstand hurricanes and floods while addressing energy independence, pollution prevention, mold and other indoor air hazards, unstable fuel costs, Formosan subterranean termites, warm humid climate, threatened drinking water supplies, our aging population and economic vitality.