Program targets family finances

Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the North Country will offer a new financial education program for families.

The program combines counseling sessions and a credit course for parents with a "Centsables" board game and online lessons, games and entertainment for children.

"Parents lay the cornerstone of a child's future financial behavior by modeling their own financial management skills," said MaryAnn Stark, president and chief executive officer of Consumer Credit Counseling Service. "Meeting the challenges of a credit-driven society and a changing economy can be a daunting task, and this program is designed to support parents so that they can acquire and pass down to their children sound money management skills."

Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the North Country is part of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Central New York. It is a nonprofit agency that has been in Watertown for more than 38 years. Clients from St. Lawrence, Lewis and Jefferson counties use the agency's free in-person, telephone and Internet financial counseling and debt repayment services.

The new education program, which will be open to at least 125 families in the services' 41-county territory, is supported by a $200,000 grant from Chase Card Services, the credit card division of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chase has given more than $5 million to credit counseling agencies and consumer finance research groups in the past five years through its Financial Literacy Grant Program.

To enroll in the service's program, families must have at least one child enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade and qualify on some financial measures, too. Each family is enrolled for three years; the program comes with individual counseling.

For more information, call the service at 782-2227.