CARE Program Overview

CARE is a free financial literacy initiative that makes experienced members of the Bankruptcy Community available to teach the importance of financial education.  These presentations are the perfect supplement to any financial literacy program offered by you or your school, especially to any unit on consumer credit, and they can be made during individual classroom periods or to larger student groups, including senior assemblies.  CARE's primary target is high school seniors and college freshmen who are most at risk because, as hungry consumers, they are aggressively marketed by the credit card industry at a time when they carry a very low Financial I.Q.

CARE was founded in 2002 and now has a presence in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  The American media has dubbed this program a “scared straight” credit program for students. CARE is honored and excited to be a national partner of the Jump$tart Coalition and a member of the National Financial Education Network. It is also forever grateful to NextStep Magazine for allowing us to spread the word about CARE and to the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, the United States Trustee Program and the Federal Judicial Center for their support.

This Web site supplements the live presentations with free downloads in the form of handouts, videos, Powerpoint presentations, games and more for your use.  Our CARE Locator Map is powered by Google to make finding a contact person near you as easy as possible.  You will then be able to schedule a presentation in your area or help us start a new CARE Program where you live.

A Message From Judge Ninfo

In our competitive consumption society, overspending and the abuse of consumer credit, which is often too easy to obtain, have contributed to a record number of people filing for bankruptcy and experiencing many of the other consequences of serious financial problems. These other consequences can include being subjected to collection efforts by creditors, reduced performance at school or work, students being forced to drop out of school and being turned down for student loans or admission to graduate school or a four-year college when transferring from a community college, individuals being turned down for a job or losing their job or a promotion, paying higher insurance premiums, being turned down for an apartment or loans for homes or cars. For many people the stress of financial problems brings on depression, interpersonal relationship problems and in some cases abuse problems and even suicide.

Unfortunately, too many of our young people are financially illiterate because they fail to receive the information in school or at home that they need to overcome the temptations of overspending and abusing credit. They need and deserve the opportunity to hear a counter-message to the constant “just do it” and “spend, spend, spend” messages they see on television, at the movies, on their computers, and often, in their own family’s spending habits.

What we have learned from the many presentations to date is that many young people are more visual than auditory learners. As a result, the Program is developing more visual aides to be used in the school presentations without compromising the direct personal touch they were designed to have.