Area churches joined together with Associated Black Charities to sponsor a Faith and Financial Workshop in the Forest Park community on Saturday, November 5th. Hosted by the Forest Park Community Church, New St. Mark’s Baptist, Wayland Baptist and First Progressive Baptist Church, the event drew an enthusiastic crowd that welcomed and enjoyed the workshops on budget, credit management and financial and retirement planning.

Participants praised the valuable and timely information shared by presenters and said that they intend to use the information to improve their lives.

The event also featured exhibitors including, the Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Maryland, a free service to help consumers manage credit and get out of debt, College Savings Plans of Maryland that provides information on saving and paying for college, and Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc. that offers renters free assistance with tenant/landlord relations and works advocates for fair housing protection.

ABC would like to extend special thanks to all of the ministers of the partnering churches including Rev. Timothy McLaurin, Forest Park Community Church who hosted the event, and Rev. Boyer Freeman, New St. Mark’s Baptist Church, Rev. Hoffman Brown, III, Wayland Baptist Church and Rev. Keith L. Green, First Progressive Baptist Church for their hard work and support!

ABC partnered with the Mondawmin Community, M&T Bank and local nonprofit and housing agencies to sponsor a financial education workshop on April 7th at the Gwynns Falls Elementary School. The event featured workshops designed to educate residents on how to obtain and manage credit, create and maintain a household budget, homeownership readiness and how to understand the foreclosure process whether you’re a homeowner or renter. Exhibitors and workshop sponsors included Baltimore CASH, Consumer Credit Counseling Services, College Savings Plans of MD, Garwyn Oaks Northwest Housing Resource Center, HUD and M&T Bank. For more information about ABC’s Faith and Financial Fitness Workshops contact: A. Adar Ayira, aayira@abc-md.org or Erlene Wilson, ewriter2@comcast.net