TONIGHT

• Home
• Video
• Podcasts/RSS 
• Local Showtimes
• Past Shows
• Blogs
• About the Show
• Tell Tavis
• Features
• Mobile

RELATED LINKS

• Cleveland Saves
• America Saves

E-mail a friend

Tavis: As we continue our "Road To Wealth" series, tonight a look at perhaps the most fundamental aspect of improving your financial health--saving money. A unique project in Cleveland is gaining national attention for encouraging a new generation of Americans to save. Aletha Adams is the project coordinator for this program called Cleveland Saves. Since 2001, over 5,000 folk in Cleveland have joined Cleveland Saves, and together they've saved--get this--over $3 million. Aletha Adams joins us from Cleveland. Aletha, nice to have you on.

Aletha Adams: Thank you, Tavis. Nice to be here.

Tavis: With a name like Aletha, I'm sure you've been called Oleta Adams and Aretha.

Adams: Oh, yes.

Tavis: Do you sing at all, or do you just save?

Adams: Well, you know, I always say, "If you ask me to sing, I could clear a room for you."

Tavis: Ha ha ha! Well, obviously you're doing something right. You have found your niche, because you've gotten a whole lot of folk, by the thousands as I mentioned a moment ago, in Cleveland to join this program called Cleveland Saves and to start saving money now to the tune of over $3 million. Tell me a little bit more about the program and how it came to be.

Adams: Well, Cleveland Saves is actually an initiative, as you said, to help people to think that they can save money. Um, when people are living what they call paycheck to paycheck, there is a way that small saving can make a difference. Here in Cleveland, we do, um, do that by helping them, by motivating people, by providing a service for them, and plugging them in to financial institutions that can open accounts for them fee-free.

Tavis: When the word goes out that there is a program in Cleveland called Cleveland Saves, when someone in Cleveland learns about the program, what's the biggest obstacle you have in convincing them that the program can work for them?

Adams: Well, a lot of the people that we encounter, as I said, feel that they have no money to save. They're living paycheck to paycheck, and we have become a nation of spenders. You know that first thing in the morning if you're watching television and you're watching the news, each commercial's telling you to buy this and buy that, but you hardly ever see a commercial that's saying save money. So the thought that you can actually do this is the biggest barrier that we have.

Tavis: And when people really are living--back to that phrase "paycheck to paycheck," where does the money come to save? There are a lot of folk who say, "I would love to save." They're not opposed to the notion of saving, but they really honestly feel like they have nothing to save. So for those who are living paycheck to paycheck, where do you start them?

Adams: Well, you'd be surprised at the little things that we do that can add up. It's buying that coffee on the way to work in the morning or going out to lunch every day and clipping coupons, or it's simple little things that you can do. You know, getting your hair done maybe twice a month. Ladies, don't kill me. Maybe twice a month instead of every week. And small things and then taking the money that you've saved and put it in a vehicle that's for saving.

Tavis: What--give me a profile, if you have one, of the kinds of folk you've been able to attract to a program like Cleveland Saves. Is there a profile here?

Adams: Well, actually what we started out with is low- to moderate-income people, and as we progressed with the planning of the program, we saw that it helps everyone across the board. But through our testing and our research, we see that the average saver is an African American female between the ages of 19 and 39 who's making about $35,000 or less a year.

Tavis: I'm glad you raised the notion of black women, because on a larger scale, I looked at some numbers preparing for our conversation and found that about 59% of African Americans, about 59% say they have some type of savings for retirement, compared with almost 80% of white Americans. Do you see those numbers being played out there in Cleveland?

Adams: Yes, yes, our numbers actually are a little bit lower for African Americans, but we see that there is a high percentage of women that participate anyway. I don't know why it's a little bit harder to get men to come out maybe in public and talk about it.

Tavis: Is there a particular strategy that you use to attract these particular women? I'm just trying to figure out why it is, to your point, that you've attracted more women than you have men.

Adams: I--really because--and now I have to say that a lot of times, men do come back later, ask questions, or they will visit our web site and join in that way, so I think first of all, because women are more talkers, more open, that they will embrace the program a lot faster than men will. We do the presentation, what we call our motivational workshop, presenting Cleveland Saves to different organizations and workplaces, nonprofit organizations, church groups, whoever can get a group of people together, and most of those people are usually women predominantly.

Tavis: OK, so I'm at an African American church or at my job or someplace else in Cleveland and I see you show up. Aletha Adams walks in and does a presentation to a room of 40, 50 people. I decide that I want to sign up. Walk me through the program. What happens now?

Adams: After we've done the motivational workshop--and in that workshop, we help people to realize, as I said, that it is possible to save money. Then we get them motivated to just not think about it, but to go a little further, and they sign up for our program. We ask them to choose a goal, something that they can see themselves doing so that--you know, if you just say, "I want to save a lot of money," that's not as realistic as if you're saying, "I want to save for retirement. I want an emergency fund. I want to send my children to college."

And then after they choose that goal, we ask them to pick an amount that they can save without putting themselves in a strain. If you need budgeting help or if you just need to know where you are where your budget is concerned, we will connect them with consumer credit counseling service, who can help them to sit down and just work out a budget, which is one of the things that's a barrier also.

And then after they have chosen how much, when will they start? When will they start saving? It's sort of like a contract for themselves that can help them, because once you put it in writing, you feel a little bit more apt to do it. We have 20 financial institutions in the city that have agreed to waive the fees and start accounts for smaller amounts, as little as $10. So they choose a place that they would like to save the money, and then they give us their information, and this is all on a form that we call our agreement form.

Once we receive that, we have what we call a wealth building coach give them a call to either welcome them to the program or whatever it is that they need help with. If it's budgeting, if it's debt management, if they just want to sit down and see how much money they have coming in and how much money they have going out, the wealth building coaches will help them with that.

Then after they have talked to a wealth building coach, they will receive a membership packet, and that packet is a membership card, some savings information, and some other tidbits that are helpful to take them down that road towards savings, and they're a saver now.

We provide the means, and then they have to do the legwork. So in addition to that, we provide a list of financial institutions that participate, and they choose the one that they would like to open the account with, and they start saving. It's just that simple.

Tavis: As you've done this work, tell me how illiterate we are financially.

Adams: Well, you know, it's really something. We have workshop presenters that volunteer to do our motivational workshop, and one of the presenters has a worksheet they call "Me as a Money Spender," and she asks us, "Do you know how much debt you have?" Most people don't know the total amount of debt they owe. "Do you know how much money down to the dollar that you have in your pocket or in your purse?" A lot of people don't even know how much money they're carrying around. "We don't know--we're not really informed about our 401K programs at work. What is my money being invested in?"

Little things that a lot of--unfortunately a lot of lower- and moderate-income people don't really have savings accounts or even relationships with financial institutions, so it's--we need to start changing the habit and get them to save.

Tavis: Cleveland Saves is--was the pilot project, the first time that this project was tried across the country. It's part of a larger organization called America Saves. Let me ask you, a little friendly competition here, how's Cleveland stacking up against other cities now when it comes to saving, with your particular group of 5,000-plus people there in Cleveland?

Adams: Well, you know Cleveland is the best location in the nation, so we're still--because we are the test site, we still--we are still ahead of the game with the others. There's about 50 other communities that are now participating in the campaign. We have an initiative with bet.com called Black America Saves, and they have about 8,000 people signed up, but as far as the other campaigns that have started, they are really--they're cooking with gas. I mean, they are really working out, but of course since we were around longer, we are still ahead.

Tavis: So, if a community or an individual or individuals watching right now want to get an America Saves chapter or entity started in their community, what happens? How does one go about doing that right quick?

Adams: Well, you think about that as a way to get different organizations together. Financial institutions, for-profit, nonprofit, chamber of commerce, different organizations, and to come together and plan an initiative. You can reach--you can start it by visiting the web site, which is americasaves.org, or you can call Consumer Federation of America, and I could give that number if you want or--

Tavis: It's on the site?

Adams: Yes. The information is there on the site. You would contact Nancy Register at Consumer Federation of America. All that information is on the site.

Tavis: Well, good, 'cause I know they'll be calling me, calling PBS trying to find information, so now they know where to get it. Her name is Aletha Adams. She's the project coordinator for Cleveland Saves. She'll clear out a room singing, but she can pack up a room talking about money, so, Aletha, thanks for coming on.

Adams: OK, thanks, Tavis, for having me.

Tavis: All the best to you.

Adams: OK, you, too.

Tavis: Thank you. Up next on this program, actress Michael Michele. Stay with us.