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COVID Cash Course Expands To Five New Regions!

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A major expansion of the Just Finance Foundation’s COVID Cash Course is set to enable a thousand churches and community organisations to deliver information and resources that will help 10,000 people tackle financial issues that have arisen due to the Coronavirus pandemic, potentially preventing a downward spiral in their circumstances.

Delivered through a train-the-trainer model, the course allows those working or volunteering with the most vulnerable people in our communities to access information in plain language with which they can help those people navigate the rapidly changing financial world around them.

From outlining individual entitlements such as Universal Credit and charitable grants, to areas such as financial stress and how to successfully budget for the next few months; COVID Cash Course adopts a holistic approach to money management during this difficult period.

So far, over 350 community leaders and organisations have already been trained to deliver a COVID Cash Course in their area with the expansion set to be in the Black Country, Nottingham, Northumberland, Middlesbrough and Plymouth. Feedback from those who have attended these courses has shown that although 80% of participants begin the course worried about their finances, 96% finish the course with a clear plan for the next few months. This is in addition to 100% of attendees, train-the-trainer or end user have finding the course useful.

Adeyinka Olushonde, a community worker for Together Liverpool, has already rolled out COVID Cash Course in Liverpool:

He said: “Uptake for that first event was so successful that within just 24 hours of it being advertised, it was sold out – and so I have had to put on two more events in order to meet the rising demand.

“It is great that we have such enthusiasm for the course but, in another way, it is quite telling. Liverpool was already a city with high levels of deprivation, and the lockdown has only exacerbated this extremely difficult situation for so many individuals and families.”