2026 Episode 3: Angela Webb-Weinberg, Jefferson County's Treasurer, implements programs to help citizens master Financial Literacy

Jefferson County Treasurer, Angela Webb-Weinberg gave us a heads up on the impactful programs that the Treasurer's Department will implement this year. TUNE IN and learn how you can participate!

For more information click here Jefferson County – Contact Us for more information or contact the Jefferson County Treasurer's Office at 205-325-5373. 

Have an idea for a County podcast? Contact the Director of Public Information, Helen Hays at haysh@jccal.org

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:05

Welcome to Jefferson County's podcast for the people. I'm your host, Chiara Morrow. Joining me here, Angela Webb Weinberg with our Jefferson County Treasurer's Office. Good morning, Angela. Good morning. Thank you so much for joining us. You have lots going on with financial literacy here at Jefferson County. And we just want to highlight some of the things that you are doing and that you're excited about within your department. But first, tell us a little bit about the Treasurer's Office and what do you all do within Jefferson County and how do you all reach the citizens?

Speaker 0:41

Yes. So good morning, Chiara. Thank you for having us. And we are so excited to be a part of the podcast for the people. What we do for the Jefferson County Treasurer's Office, we are responsible for all of our fiduciary bonds. So we pay the bills for the county. We make sure that all of our vendors get get their paychecks and their payments. And then we are also responsible for the investments that the county has as far as our money. We have about 14 banking partners that we work with at the county, and we're responsible for over $2 billion.

Speaker 1 1:22

That's a lot of responsibility to say the least. So in all of that, you all are the great stewards of Jefferson County with helping to make sure that everything is allocated as it's supposed to, correct? Yes, we did. That is awesome. So you all have some things coming up with the Money Skills Workshop. Tell us a little bit about that and the summary of it, and pretty much how you reach citizens in the community with some programs and purposes behind that.

Speaker 1:48

Yeah, so my mom passed last year. And one of the things that I saw, especially in our elderly community, is that they were being targets for scams and frauds. And so one of the things that I live by that my mom used to always say to me every morning was build a light that outlives you. And anything that I've done that has been the words that have spoken to me into making sure that ours our citizens in Jefferson County, that we're stewards of not only our taxpayer dollars here, but making sure that they're stewards with their money that they're being able to use. So we're teaching financial literacy class, what a credit score is, how to avoid scams and fraud, also learning what a true community bank. so many people don't understand. We see on every other corner of a new bank popping up. And the reason why is because a lot of it is community banking and just making sure that they're a little bit more lenient than our bigger banks because they will be those are the people that go to work with us, that go to church with us, that are a part of our community that we don't even know. Being married to an attorney, that was three of the things that my husband always told me he said, make sure that you have your banker, you have your attorney, and you have an accountant to make sure that everything is legal in your life, everything is adding up in your mind, and to make sure that if you need to get any kind of credit, you can get your credit. So that's one of the things that I want to make sure and ensure that people are able to make sure we pay our bills on time, understand what a real true credit score is and how it affects our everyday life. And then making sure that at the end of the day that we have enough money to be able to sustain in retirement. I understand that hey, , I'm looking at retirement in a couple of years and just want to make sure that I have enough that I've I sustained that I can live up of comfortably and make sure that my kids have a legacy. You know, they understand. So starting with our children, starting with our elderly to make sure that they're taken care of. And then , just as a professional person, I want to make sure that I have enough sustained, because our markets are so volatile that we, you know, I want to make sure that we're we're doing what we need to do with our money.

Speaker 1 4:07

That's exceptional advice, especially for our younger generations because some of the habits they're having to learn and unlearn. So I think you're doing great by instilling that wisdom, not only from what your mom instilled within you, but even your husband. Those are some key factors that people wouldn't think about when it comes to fiscal responsibility. Any other things you want to touch on? Like what kind of activities should the community expect to be involved in over the next few months or even this year? I hear you got some exciting things planned, some very engaging activities. Anything you want to share with us on that?

Speaker 4:38

Yes. We had last year a resolution set that September is financial literacy for the County. We created some empowerments here initiatives. So we had our banking partners going out and just talking to our community about, you know, what a credit score is, what they need as far as trying to keep everybody financially literate. We're gonna continue with that trend. We're gonna have monthly meetings. We're gonna do in-person, we're gonna also do virtual. Then we're also doing some empowerment summits with small businesses so they can understand exactly what it is to actually be able to get business credit. We have so many small businesses that don't even have a business license and don't know the steps they need to do. And then when they go to the banks, they're upset because they've been turned down. Have to get a banking partner to be able to talk to them and say, hey, let me walk you through this process of this is what you need to do to be a legitimate um small business. This is how you can be able to be able to access that banking fund. Also, with our seniors, just making sure that they're not victims of scams. We had one of our banking partners to kind of talk about with our senior services where they had a potential client that was kind of well off and ended up with scammed by somebody via the internet. They stole a million dollars. Wow. And that that was no way that they could recoup that money back. So every day the scammers are getting up and they're 10 times smarter than all of us and brand new scams. We we've had people to call us and say, hey, you sent us a tax bill. I was like, Well, it can't be us sending you a tax bill because we don't send tax bills. You know, just keeping people and making sure that they're informed. And that's one of the things that I'm pushing forward to. I start 2026 with the new word, stewardship. So stewarding back into our community and making sure that everybody understands and is financially fit. Also, we changed our website so they can either our citizens and go on and see exactly how financially sound Jefferson County is. With all of our information, everything is transparent, and that's one of the ways that we're making sure. We also have information here. Absolutely. Or little kids, big kids, and all kids alike for information about financial.

Speaker 1 6:49

I just believe that is exceptional. I'm all on board with helping spread that message, especially within the public information department. So thank you so much for joining us today. If citizens want more information, they can visit your webpage, correct? Is it JCCA? They can go to our website.

Speaker 7:06

We're on every social media platform as well for the office and come by and see it.

Speaker 1 7:11

Absolutely. And so that website, just in case, that's jccal.org forward slash treasurer. And if you have any more information that you like, if you're not on social media, you can dial 205-325-5373. And of course, also promote your events as well on the Jefferson County Facebook page and also on Instagram. Anything else you want to leave with today?

Speaker 7:33

I just want to say thank you guys for being great partners. And I am enjoy working with our public information office because you guys get all the information out, and we just look forward to continuing this partnership and doing everything that we can for the citizens and making sure that Jefferson County is the best county in the state of Alabama.

Speaker 1 7:51

And we look forward to that as well. We're all on board and happy to help you and support you in each of your events. Thank you so much for joining us. We look forward to all the great things you have going on this year, and we'll put that contact information in the bottom of the podcast. So for any of those that tuned in and want to get that, it'll be listed below in the description. Thank you so much, Angela. We certainly appreciate you and all that you're doing within the Jefferson County Treasurer's Department. Thank you.