Advancing Benefits for People with Disabilities

In this webinar you will learn about the barriers facing people with disabilities in accessing benefit programs and the work currently underway to identify, influence and pilot solutions to help advance the access to benefits process now and in the future.  

 This webinar includes: 

  • An overview of the barriers and enablers to accessing benefits and services for people living with a disability 
  • Sharing key values and design principles to advance Access to Benefits for People with Disabilities - Canada Disability Benefit example 
  • A pilot project example: 'Increasing Access to Benefits for People with Disabilities' - overview of the ESDC pilot in British Columbia  
  • The importance of evaluation in access to benefits projects 
  • A call to action - how you can help advance benefits for people with disabilities 

The webinar speakers are: 

  • Janet Flynn (Prosper Canada) 
  • Basia Pakula (Social Research and Demonstration Corporation) 
  • Helaine Boyd (Disability Alliance BC) 

This 1-hour webinar is for any organization who works directly with people living with a disability and is interested in learning about ways to improve the access to benefits process to help clients increase their incomes by accessing government benefits. 

Click 'Get it' below to access the video link, and scroll down to access slides, and video timestamps for this webinar. 

 



Read the presentation slides for this webinar. 

Time stamps for the video recording:

    • 5:20  – Start
    • 6:12 – Land acknowledgement
    • 7:24 – Introduction of speakers
    • 9:42 – Today’s presentation
    • 10:45 – Barriers to access to benefits
    • 15:12 – Designing for benefit accessibility
    • 21:53 – ESDC pilot project
    • 32:46 –Demo of the disability benefit compass
    • 44:36 – Importance of evaluation
    • 50:58 – What’s next? What’s possible?
    • 58:55 – Questions

Cyber security awareness

The Canadian Bankers Association has created a new Cyber Security Awareness Quiz site to test your knowledge and ability to spot a “phishy” email, message or text.



TFSA Calculator

A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) can be used to save for any goal. You put after-tax dollars into a TFSA, but your investments grow tax-free and you won’t pay any tax on withdrawal. 

Use this calculator to estimate the value of the investments in your TFSA when you’re ready to withdraw them, and compare this amount to the value of your investments in a non-registered plan to see your overall estimated tax savings.



Compound interest calculator

Using OSC's online calculator, find out how your investment will grow over time with compound interest.



Emergency fund calculator

Some emergencies in life can affect you financially. You could get sick, lose your job, or have a costly repair to your car or home. An emergency fund can provide a financial safety net. Ideally, this fund would provide enough money to cover your essential living expenses so you can avoid taking on debt.

Use OSC's calculator to estimate how much money should be set aside to pay for financial emergencies. 



Learn the 101 of financial literacy

This course is offered by the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education, a non-profit organization that works to improve economic, financial, and enterprising capability.

This financial literacy course for general audiences covers a range of topics: money basics and the economy, setting goals and making wiser consumer decisions, employment, self-employment, spending on major purchases, borrowing money, saving and investing, protecting your money and managing your money. 



Global Learning Partners: Connecting Virtually: A Toolkit for Success

Global Learning Partners (GLP) helps individuals and organizations to learn by providing practical expertise in learning assessment, design, facilitation and evaluation.

Their connecting virtually toolkit covers a variety of topics to learn, teach and connect in a virtual world. The resources include ways to engage the whole person, hosting online meetings that work, teaching online and managing work, staff and kids at home. 



Living your retirement

These resources from the Ontario Securities Commission are oriented towards planning for retirement. Resources include tips on insurance planning, government benefits, RRSP calculator, and more. 

Emerging Technology for All: Conversational AI’s Pivotal Role

This infographic is a preview of Commonwealth's research survey of 1290 lower-and moderate-income people to understand their perceptions, needs, and uses of conversational AI. 

Disability Tax Credit Tool

The Canadian Disability Tax Credit (DTC) can help reduce the taxes you or someone who supports you owe. It also offers a lot of other great benefits.

To apply for the DTC, your healthcare provider will need to fill out the Disability Tax Credit Certificate (form T2201). This tool is designed to give them the information they need to fill out that form



OpportuNext (career transition online tool)

OpportuNext from The Conference Board of Canada is a free-to-use career tool created in partnership with the Future Skills Centre. The tool can be used by anyone looking to plan a career path with a similar skillset or for anyone providing employment services.



Financial Relief Navigator

The Financial Relief Navigator is an online tool that can help you find support to raise your income or lower your expenses in these challenging times.

The tool will suggest income benefits or other support programs you may be eligible for in your province/territory in Canada. 

Money Mentors – Savings & Debt Resources

Collection of money management resources, including how create effective budgets, realistic spending plans, deal with your debts, save more money, build a stronger credit rating, and prepare for retirement.



Testing the use of the Mint app in an interactive personal finance module

To advance understanding of effective financial education methods, the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) conducted an experiment using Mint, a financial improvement tool offered by Intuit, whose financial products include TurboTax and QuickBooks. This study measures Mint’s effectiveness at improving students’ financial knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Students at the George Washington University participated in a half-day budgeting workshop and were exposed to either Mint, which is a real-time, automated platform, or Excel, which is an offline, static tool. 

The authors found that participation in both workshops was associated with improved preparedness to have conversations about money matters with parents, a greater sense of financial autonomy, and an increased awareness of the importance of budgeting, but that participants in the Mint workshop were more likely to have a positive experience using the budgeting tool, to feel confident that they could achieve a financial goal, and to be engaged in budgeting one month after the workshop. Results show that even short financial education interventions can meaningfully influence students’ financial attitudes and behavior and that an interactive tool like Mint may have advantages over a more static tool like Excel. 



Consumer Price Index Personal Inflation Calculator

This interactive tool created by Statistics Canada allows you to explore your personal rate of inflation, based on the goods and services you consume.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the official measure of inflation in Canada. It is representative of the change in prices experienced by the average Canadian household. However, your personal experience of inflation may not perfectly match the Canadian average due to differences in your spending habits. The Personal Inflation Calculator accounts for those differences and provides a measure of inflation unique to you.



Helping Consumers Claim their Economic Impact Payment: A guide for intermediary organizations

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a guide to assist intermediaries in serving individuals to access their Economic Impact Payments (EIPs). The guide, Helping Consumers Claim the Economic Impact Payment: A guide for intermediary organizations , provides step-by-step instructions for frontline staff on how to:

  • Discuss the EIP with their clients
  • Determine if clients need to take action
  • Support clients with what to expect and how to troubleshoot common issues



Serving Individuals With Disabilities – A Day in the Life of an American Job Center

The Disability and Employment eLearning Task Force in collaboration with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) released three eLearning Training Modules to help support the professional development needs of the workforce development staff across the United States. 

The first module provide tools and resources to support front-line American Job Center staff effectively serve customers with disabilities, covering strategies for effective communication and interaction with individuals with disabilities.



Présentation de l’Explorateur d’allègements financiers (EAF)

L’Explorateur d’allègements financiers : un outil pour connaître les mesures d’aide et d’allègement liées à la COVID-19 dont vos clients pourraient bénéficier

En réponse à la pandémie de COVID-19 et en raison de la complexité des mesures d’aide et d’allègement offertes à la population canadienne, nous avons créé l’Explorateur d’allègements financiers (EAF), un outil en ligne qui aide les gens vulnérables au Canada et ceux qui les accompagnent à accéder aux mesures d’aide d’urgence et d’allègement financier proposées par les gouvernements, les établissements financiers, les fournisseurs de services de télécommunication, de services publics et de services Internet.

Soyez des nôtres pour assister à notre webinaire d’une heure animé par Elodie Young, de Prospérité Canada, qui vous présentera l’EAF et vous donnera des conseils sur la manière d’aider vos clients à accéder aux mesures d’aide et d’allègement financier. Que vous travailliez dans le secteur de la salubrité des aliments, de la santé mentale, de l'autonomisation financière, de l’établissement ou encore dans le secteur privé, venez apprendre comment aider vos clients à augmenter leur revenu et à réduire leurs dépenses pendant la crise.

Ce webinaire concerne tous les fournisseurs de services de première ligne qui gagnent un faible revenu et les populations vulnérables du Canada.

Lisez les diapositives de ce webinaire.

Utilisez l'outil en ligne.

Lisez le document de ce webinaire.



Introducing the Financial Relief Navigator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the complexities of the benefits and financial relief measures available to Canadians, we developed the Financial Relief Navigator (FRN), an online resource that helps vulnerable Canadians and those that work with them access critical emergency benefits and financial relief from governments, financial institutions, telecoms, utility and internet providers.

In this one-hour webinar you'll hear from Galen MacLusky and Janet Flynn of Prosper Canada who will give you an overview of the FRN and provide tips on how to support your clients to access critical benefits and financial relief. 

Click 'Get it' below to access the video link, and scroll down to access handouts, slides, and video timestamps for this webinar.

Access the Financial Relief Navigator here.



Presentation slides for this webinar

Handouts for this webinar
Introducing the Financial Relief Navigator (FRN)
Access the Financial Relief Navigator here.

Time-stamps for the video recording:
3:22 – Agenda and Introductions
6:00 – Audience poll
9:00 – Why we created the Financial Relief Navigator (Speaker: Janet Flynn)
11:55 – What’s in the Financial Relief Navigator (Speaker: Janet Flynn)
16:35 – FRN Walkthrough using a Persona (Speaker: Galen McLusky)
33:15 – Tips for using the FRN (Speaker: Galen McLusky)
36:00 – The Working Centre experience using the FRN (Speaker: Sue Collison)
41:15 – Q&A

Financial Literacy Outcome Evaluation Tool

The Financial Literacy Outcome Evaluation Tool offers organizations a collection of evidence-based financial literacy outcomes and indicators. The tool guides users through a series of questions about their program and evaluation goals and then suggests scales (sets of questions) and individual questions they can use.



Budget Planner

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)'s online tool helps you create a customized budget.



Emergency Fund Calculator

Some emergencies in life can affect you financially. You could get sick, lose your job, or have a costly repair to your car or home. An emergency fund can provide a financial safety net. Use this calculator to estimate how much money should be set aside to pay for financial emergencies.



My money in Canada

Are you a newcomer to Canada, or someone who works with newcomers? This online tool will help you explore five money modules to better manage your finances in Canada. Learn about the financial system in Canada, income and expenses, setting goals and saving, credit and credit reports, and filing taxes. 

 

Updated July 26, 2022:

My money in Canada provides important information about Canada’s financial system and promotes positive money management habits to support Canadians to succeed financially. Interactive exercises and checklists support you to make informed choices and to create a customized financial plan that works for you.

Originally designed to support newcomers to Canada as they settle and establish themselves financially, My money in Canada has  been updated to serve all Canadians, including those who are new to Canada.

 



RDSP calculator

Enhance the quality of life for a family member with a disability. By answering a few simple questions, the RDSP Calculator can help you project the estimated future value of an RDSP, and the approximate value of future withdrawal payments. Run various scenarios to see how it would affect the value of your RDSP.

The RDSP Calculator is a tool to help you assess the potential of opening and contributing to an RDSP. The estimates provided by the Calculator are for information purposes only. The profile of your RDSP may differ from the RDSP Calculator projection.



Proliteracy.ca: Plan Finances for University or College

Proliteracy.ca analyzes historical living expenses from over 160 cities and tuition from over 100 universities and colleges in Canada to predict the cost of post secondary education in the future.

Their tool suggests financing options based on your profile. Learn about RESP, grants, scholarships and various government and commercial programs with their online resources. 



Canada Revenue Agency Child and Family Benefits Calculator

This online tool released by the Canada Revenue Agency can be used to determine the eligibility and payment amounts of child and family benefits. Additional information on child and family benefit programs may be found on the Canada Revenue Agency's child and family benefits page.



My money in Canada

This online tool will help you learn about the financial system in Canada and how to manage your money. Explore five money modules on banking, income and expenses, money goals and savings, credit, and taxes. 

Clients can do the modules in the order they appear, or just the ones they want to use. The tool is intended to be used with clients and settlement workers together, but can also be used by the client on their own if they are comfortable. 



Mortgage Calculator

This calculator from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada determines your mortgage payment and provides you with a mortgage payment schedule.

Compound Interest Calculator

Use this calculator from GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca to find out how your investment will grow over time, with compound interest. 



Account Comparison Tool

Compare features for different chequing and savings accounts, including interest rates, monthly fees and transactions. Find an account that best suits your needs. Narrow your search, view search results, and compare your results using this account comparison tool from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.

Credit Card Payment Calculator

This tool from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada will help you compare different payment options to pay off your credit card balance.

statement. If you can't, you can still reduce the amount of interest you will have to pay. The credit card payment calculator compares 3 different payment options to pay off your credit card balance.



RRSP Savings Calculator

Use this tool by the OSC to estimate how much your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) will be worth at retirement and how much income it will provide each year.



TFSA Calculator

This calculator will help you estimate the value of the investments in your TFSA when you’re ready to withdraw them, and compare this amount to the value of your investments in a non-registered plan to see your overall estimated tax savings.



Future planning for people with disabilities


Delivered in partnership with Plan Institute, this webinar "Future planning tips for people with disabilities and those who support them," discusses how planning for A Good Life can lead to achieving greater peace of mind about the present.

This webinar also introduces the online Future Planning Tool for Persons with Disabilities*, a resource that helps you, your family, and your clients create a financial plan.

The speakers are:

  • Brendon Pooran, Founder and principal lawyer, PooranLaw Professional Corporation
  • Ted Kuntz, Chair, Board of Directors of Plan Institute
  • Tom O’Dwyer, Lead tax advisor, Ability Tax and Trust Advisors.

This is the webinar video recording.

Read the presentation slides for this webinar.

Discover the Future Planning Tool discussed in this webinar.

 




Financial literacy outcome evaluation made easy


In this webinar, "Financial literacy & coaching outcome evaluation made easy," you'll learn about the new online evaluation tool developed by Prosper Canada. This is a revolutionary new online evaluation question tool designed to help organizations measure the effectiveness of their financial literacy and coaching programs.

The speakers are:

  • Lilian Knorr, Manager of Research and Evaluation at Prosper Canada   
  • Salima Shariff, Research and Evaluation Officer at Prosper Canada.

The financial literacy and coaching evaluation tool is a product of the Strengthening evaluation of financial literacy programs in Canada project funded by the Canadian Bankers Association of Canada and conducted in partnership with Prosper Canada and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.

This is the video recording of the webinar.

Discover the Financial Literacy Outcome Evaluation Tool discussed in the webinar.




Transforming the Financial Lives of a Generation of Young Americans