Last week, I visited Smart Savings in Redruth. Smart
Savings provides a range of social and financial inclusion services, including
debt advice, money management training and employment skills training. They
have helped over a hundred people over the last eighteen months or so and I met
some of those who have benefited last week.
They now have plans for a new project aimed at helping
young children from Redruth improve their numeracy skills. The
"Numbers Nursery" project offers fun, forest school sessions which
aim to help young children, aged between two and four, gain confidence in early
year's maths and numeracy whilst being out in the fresh air, enjoying physical
exercise, and also learning about the natural environment. The project will
proactively support children in care, and socially excluded families on low
incomes.
The
outdoor maths sessions will take place on a weekly basis with activities
including cooking on camp fires, learning about healthy eating, going on nature
walks and treasure hunts, playing games, sowing vegetable and fruit seeds,
building unique structures (e.g. dens, sand castles and moats, and mud pies),
making forest and beach art, and enjoying free, healthy snacks and meals.
Smart
savings is one of a number of good local projects that are helping local people
with their finances. Five years ago I became a member of the Kernow
Credit Union. Unlike other lenders they don't judge people through credit
agencies. Those who are in greatest need know that "subject to
status" usually means "not you." With a credit union people earn
their credibility. Those who save regularly each month can, after three months,
borrow around three times the amount they have saved. Credit Unions are very
common in other countries. In Ireland, around 60 percent of families are
members and they are also common in countries like Australia. At a time when
commercial banks have lost their way, credit unions are a reminder of what old
fashioned, community based lending should be.