CITY TREASURER STARTS WEBINAR TO HELP RESIDENTS

City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin has created a webinar, “Money Mondays with Melissa,” as a way to provide the city’s residents with information and resources focused on finances during COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Melissa Conyears-Ervin
City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin has created a webinar, “Money Mondays with Melissa,” as a way to provide the city’s residents with information and resources focused on finances during COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Melissa Conyears-Ervin

City Treasurer starts webinar to help residents

BY TIA CAROL JONES

Melissa Conyears-Ervin, treasurer of the city of Chicago, began her “Money Mondays with Melissa” webinar on Monday, May 4, as a way to inform residents and provide resources during COVID-19.

“There has been so much focus on physical health during this pandemic, which physical health is the most important during a time such as this because COVID-19 directly attacks physical health, but one of the challenges we have also seen is that we need financial wellness,” she said.

Conyears-Ervin said as city treasurer, she is the sole custodian of taxpayers’ dollars and her role is to protect taxpayers’ dollars. She said in order to protect their money, first, she had to protect the taxpayers themselves. And, that is why she wanted to create the webinar series. It will take place each Monday in May, at noon.

There are so many resources available to residents, as well as small businesses, including things like additional unemployment benefits, additional SNAP benefits, stimulus checks, grants for businesses and loans for businesses, that Conyears-Ervin said she wanted to address topics like what bills to pay and which bills to possibly pay first. Things of that sort will keep taxpayers from going into a financial hole, she said, and may prevent them from having to deal with a larger burden once the crisis is over.

For the first webinar, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Amanda Carney, co-founder and president of Working Credit, were guests on the show.

During the webinar, Preckwinkle talked about the Cook County Community Recovery Initiative, which is aimed at providing rapid relief loans, technical assistance and outreach for suburban small businesses.

“We’ve tried to figure out ways in which we can support small businesses,” Preckwinkle said. “We have to do whatever we can to help small businesses because we know they’re the backbone.”

Conyears-Ervin said Preckwinkle covered, and quite extensively, the resources available in Chicago and in Cook County. Her participation was “great” Conyears-Ervin added, especially since some suburban businesses have really been hurt by the pandemic. Preckwinkle also spoke about independent contractors and the resources that are available to them, she said.

During the webinar, Carney said even though people have limited resources, this crisis is different from other recessions in the past.

“Creditors now are trying to actively work with people,” she said. “Pay your credit card and loan payments,” she advised. “These bills get reported to the credit bureau.”

Conyears-Ervin said that Carney’s Working Credit is a not for profit organization, so she thought it would be beneficial to have Carney on the webinar.

“They are truly in the business of helping consumers and not for their own benefit,” she said.

Other guests included John Hope Bryant, chief executive officer of Operation Hope, an organization focused on uplifting the community by providing financial dignity and economic empowerment, things Conyears-Ervin said she’s also trying to instill in the community through the webinars.

“That’s another reason why I started this ‘Money Monday with Melissa’ because we truly want financial empowerment in all 77 communities of Chicago and we know that there’s disparity. It’s almost like financial well-being can be a hidden secret and I don’t want it to be that way,” she said. One of the goals of the webinar is to make certain that resources and information are available to Chicagoans everywhere, Conyears-Ervin said. Before the pandemic, “we needed to talk about financial wellness,” she added, but during the pandemic, it’s an even more “urgent matter.”

The next webinar will take place on Monday, May 18. For more information, please visit www.ChicagoCityTreasurer.com.

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