
While Treasurer Deborah Goldberg was visiting Worcester on the campaign trail last year, she noticed the proliferation of tax preparation offices sprouting up in low-income communities in the months leading up to the April 15 filing deadline.
The firms don’t offer customers a good deal, often charging hundreds of dollars for 20 minutes of work and advances on refunds with sky-high interest rates. But a general lack of understanding of how interest works, and a ready supply of low-income tax filers desperate for fast cash, keep tax preparation firms in business.
It was that dynamic that prompted Goldberg this year to launch the Office of Economic Empowerment, an effort aimed at teaching financial literacy in Massachusetts schools.
“Kids can program an iPhone 6, but they know nothing about what a bank does,” Goldberg told the Banner. “They have no clue about debt, savings and planning and budgeting. I want to go back to basics. I want to work with people, taking into consideration the community that they come from, their traditions and their cultures and making it appropriate.”
She has wasted no time in getting an educational program up and running. Her Office of Economic Empowerment has held seminars in 10 Massachusetts schools, training students on personal finance, economics, savings, college debt and budgeting.
When Goldberg sat in on a training session her office set up at Haverhill High School, she asked the students how the seminar affected them. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, she said.
“For every single one of them, there was a critical takeaway that will change the way in which they approach their life around money and how it will affect them,” Goldberg commented.
At Worcester Technical High School, response was similarly positive, she said.
“They asked me why these programs hadn’t been started younger and why there aren’t more programs like this throughout the schools,” Goldberg said. “That’s high school kids telling me that. One girl said, ‘my parents told me you just take college loans and pay them later. But I learned in this program that you should not look at it that way. You need to look at what kind of loans they are and what are they going to cost you.’”
It’s not uncommon for state treasurers to teach financial literacy. In fact, Goldberg serves on the National Association of State Treasurers Financial Literacy Task Force.
A former chairwoman of the Brookline Board of Selectmen, Goldberg was elected Treasurer in the Nov. 2014 election, succeeding Steve Grossman, who vacated the post to run for governor.
She has already begun amassing a record of reform. In March, she outlined new guidelines for the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board’s custom proxy voting guidelines, setting standards for board diversity, wage equality, renewable energy, human rights and other issues.
Goldberg’s new policy instructs the PRIM board to vote against investments in any company that has a board with less than 25 percent minorities and/or women. Corporations seeking investment from PRIM are required to report on other issues, including energy efficiency and executive compensation, but will not be automatically excluded from investment.
Money power
As chairwoman of the PRIM board, Goldberg has oversight over the state’s investments of its $62 billion in pension funds, giving her leverage to press for social change in the corporate world.
While the PRIM board is just one of 50 state boards with investments in the corporate world, Goldberg says the investment policies can have far-reaching effects.
“This is a first step,” she said. “People are standing up and taking notice. If a Massachusetts state treasurer with a $62 billion pension fund who has responsibility to so many retirees and so many employees is making that kind of statement, you can too.”
Goldberg is not alone in leveraging state investments for positive change. CalPERS, the California state investment board with $300 billion in investments, has been screening companies it invests in for compliance with human rights, environmental and labor standards since 2000.
“There’s a whole change nationally,” Goldberg said. “We’re not only joining in, we’re also leading on certain issues.”
While investments and financial literacy typically fall under the purview of state treasurers, Goldberg says she wants to be active in other areas as well.
She launched a statewide advisory committee on wage equity in March, tapping Boston Mayor Martin Walsh to serve as honorary chairman. The effort, which has pulled together leaders from the government, nonprofit and business sectors, is aimed at developing tools to help employers review and revise their pay structures to ensure that women employees are compensated fairly.
“As long as women who are wives, mothers and daughters are not receiving the kind of support and pay they should have, they are not becoming part of the middle class,” Goldberg said. “It’s a complete tie to the economic health of the country.”
It’s been a busy first five months for Goldberg. State treasurer is a post that sometimes has been seen as a stepping stone to higher office. But Goldberg, who has said she has no higher electoral aspirations, has instead focused on a formidable reform agenda. Her economic empowerment tour is taking her to schools and community centers across the commonwealth. And she’s working on more initiatives, including a free tax preparation programs for low-income earners and a college savings program for children who qualify for free school lunches.
“I’m a real grassroots activist,” Goldberg told the Banner. “And now I have a platform to take grassroots activism and push it to the next level.”