SOUTH AMBOY, N.J. - Hoping to improve across-the-board financialliteracy, from young children to senior citizens, the State of NewJersey is bringing educational materials right where they're needed- directly into the hands of consumers and into the communitieswhere they live. Through a public/private partnership called theNew Jersey Financial Literacy Awareness Network (NJFLAN), memberorganizations ranging from credit unions to community churches aresponsoring public access literature display cases that can be setup at their own facilities or at other high-traffic neighborhoodlocations, particularly in low- and moderate-income areas aroundthe state. "Governor McGreevey has made it a priority to supportreading and writing programs that help improve overall literacy,"said New Jersey Director of Banking H. Robert Tillman at the June15 ribbon cutting that officially kicked off NJFLAN. "The governoralso realizes the importance of developing consumers' financialliteracy. Many young people simply lack basic skills in how tomanage their personal affairs. Basic financial skills should startdeveloping as early as possible in the life of a child." Using astudent-run branch of Raritan Bay FCU as a backdrop, the kickoffevent demonstrated how materials - currently available in Englishand Spanish - can be customized according to age group and targetaudience. Display racks also can be customized with the sponsoringorganization's logo. Through a series of online tools, such ascredit-rating calculators and quizzes, NJFLAN's organizers alsohope to assist and track the progress of individuals whoparticipate in financial education programs offered by communityorganizations that are part of the network. "We're really pleasedto be a sponsoring organization for this," said Raritan Bay FCUPresident and CEO Tom O'Shea. "It gives us another opportunity tobring financial literature into the community. It also givesmembers resources that they can take away with them, helping themlearn the importance of knowing how money works and how it can workfor them." NJFLAN is the brainchild of Raritan Bay FCU member DontBell, an IT consultant who also is working as NJFLAN coordinator."I owe special thanks to Director Tillman for taking this visionand making it a reality," Bell said. According to Bell, easy accessto the materials will be the key of the program's success,particularly in areas where Internet access is not widelyavailable. "It's all about making an impulse decision," Bell says."You walk into the barber shop, the hair salon and you seesomething that might be good for your son, daughter, niece ornephew. It's like going into the store and coming out with candy.You didn't go there to get candy, yet you came out with one ortwo." Once the NJFLAN program gets off the ground, Bell will beworking on presenting the program as a model not only for otherstates around the country but also for organizations around theworld. And for Bell, a good sign of the program's intended effectis seeing how his own children - 8-year-old JeVon and 4-year-oldJaden - react to the reading materials. "They read the pamphletsand give me book reports on what they read," Bell said. "JeVonreads to Jaden, and they can't get enough. Sometimes they askquestions that even I can't answer. "I just think that if we hadaccess to all of this when we were young, I can't imagine what wecould do today," he added. Among the groups supporting NJFLAN arethe New Jersey Credit Union League, the New Jersey BankersAssociation, the New Jersey League of Community Bankers and the NewJersey Coalition for Financial Education. For more information, logon to www.njflan.com. [email protected]