Pennsylvania's Task Force for Working Families

In April 2004, Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell established a Task Force for Working Families to identify strategies to build the incomes and assets of working families, promote financial education and literacy, and curb predatory lending practices. The task force is composed of more than 60 stakeholders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. In 2004, it hosted public roundtable discussions throughout the state to solicit citizen input. In January 2005, the task force released a report with recommendations for improving asset building, including:

- establishing a financial education clearinghouse (www.moneysbestfriend.com);
- integrating financial education into the K-12 curriculum;
- helping employers provide financial education in the workplace;
- launching a pilot program to offer financial education to state employees;
- encouraging financial professionals to provide voluntary training in the community;
- enhancing EITC outreach;
- increasing the scale of the state's Family Savings Account program;
- increasing asset limits under the TANF program;
- helping improve access to mainstream financial institutions.

The report also includes a blueprint for action that outlines steps each state agency can take to enhance asset-building efforts and create a comprehensive support system for working families.

The purpose of the Task Force was to:

1. identify and explore current and proposed strategies for
- building incomes and assets for working families;
- promoting financial education and literacy; and
- protecting working families from predatory and abusive financial services;

2. maximize the coordination of programs that affect working families and create an environment in which they can work together with greater effectiveness and impact;

3. work with charitable foundations, local government agencies, advocacy groups, community and religious leaders, academia, policy and research organizations, and other entities as may be appropriate, to carry out the purpose of the Task Force.

The governor and state agency officials have implemented many of the task force's
recommendations.