Project BOAST: Money Management
Project Director: MaryLouise E. Kerwin, Ph.D., BCBA

Introduction
"Creating financial well-being is extremely important to women who abuse drugs and neglect their children, as these women are often unemployed, spend excessive amounts of money on illicit drugs, need to support their offspring, do not have intimate partners with whom to share expenses, and/or lack basic vocational and financial management skills" (Brad Donohue, Ph.D., 6/17/07).

There are two money management aspects of BOAST. Patients practice managing their “fictional” BOAST checking and savings accounts. The second goal of this component is to assist the patient in assessing her financial situation by (a) listing her monthly expenses, (b) listing types and amounts of her monthly income, and (c) learning how to identify if she is in a financial deficit or surplus, and (d) learning to obtain and manage additional income.

Practicing Money Management Skills
Each patient in the BOAST program has the opportunity to manage money by earning MatriArk dollars through work. BOAST workers have a Project BOAST checking account for which they earn interest. These patients:

• Design their own checks
• Get weekly direct deposit paychecks of earning from their work in the Workplace or Office
• Receive bills from seven "fictional" companies. There are late fees for unpaid balances and late payments
• Receive monthly "bank statements" showing deposits, checks written, interest earned, and any bank fees for bounced checks and reordering checks
• Write checks for purchases in the BOAST Store.

Support for this program was provided in part by a grant from the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through its New Jersey Health Initiatives program.

Page revised 10/23/10
Center for Behavior Analysis• abacenter@rowan.edu •856-256-5470