FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
For More Information
Martha Sorensen, Service Learning
Jill Janov, Marketing and Public Relations
Phone: (505) 428-1702
Phone: (505) 428-1776
SFCC Holds Financial Fitness Forum
Santa Fe, NM, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005 — Are your dollars stretching you instead of you
stretching your dollars? A community forum—“Making Ends Meet: Is There Help for Working
People?” — is being held from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8 at Santa Fe Community College,
6401 Richards Ave. Sponsored by the SFCC Service-Learning Department, the free forum will
be presented in the college’s Jemez Rooms.
Mary Charlotte of public radio station KSFR’s “Radio Café” will host the forum. The
presenters will be Carol Oppenheimer and Morty Simon of the Santa Fe Living Wage Network
and Michelle Lis from Homewise Inc. Oppenheimer and Simon are lawyers specializing in labor
law. The Living Wage Network is a coalition of civic leaders, local churches, community groups
and labor activists that advocated the city’s increase of the minimum wage to $8.50 per hour.
Lis is the training and counseling manager at Homewise, a Santa Fe non-profit
organization that helps modest-income New Mexicans purchase and repair homes. She holds a
master’s degree in adult education from Cornell University.
“We feel that this forum is a first step for working persons of all ages to address issues
that are important to their financial futures,” SFCC Service-Learning Director Martha Sorensen
said.
Gasoline and home heating costs are soaring. Interest rates are rising, driving the cost of
credit higher. In Santa Fe, the widening gap between average income and housing costs presents
special challenges. Squeezed on all sides, what is a working person to do?
(more)
Making Ends Meet (page2)
The purpose of the forum is to give participants an opportunity to deliberate on some
issues important to our community’s economy, as well as to learn some strategies that may
contribute to their own financial success.
Some of the “rules” are very simple. For instance:

People who write down specific savings goals are more likely to achieve them.

The majority of your credit score is based on payment history. Always pay your bills on
time.
Resource tables for other agencies also will be available, Sorensen noted. “Of course, this
forum won’t solve everyone’s financial problems, but it will provide participants with a closer
examination of the issues we face and some tools with which to begin building a more secure
financial future.”
For more information, call (505) 428-1702.
About Santa Fe Community College
Santa Fe Community College serves more than 14,500 students per year in its credit, noncredit and adult basic
education programs. The 22-year-old college offers academic, career and personal-enrichment programs and
services to meet the needs of business, government and the region’s diverse population. The college contributes to
the area’s economic, technological and cultural development by offering programs ranging from art to business
management and directly addresses regional job shortages through its nursing, teacher education and culinary arts
programs. For further information, visit www.sfccnm.edu or call (505) 428-1000.
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