Linda Lauder is the Business Development Officer for the Financial Literacy Program at the Prince George Aboriginal Business Development Centre (ABDC). Linda was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan and raised on the Sweetgrass First Nation before moving to Prince George where she has lived for the past 31 years. She is married to former Crown Prosecutor Neil Lauder and has one son, Cameron, a UNBC graduate.
She joined the ABDC due to its commitment to social housing and preparing tenants for success in their future plans of employment, education/training and permanent housing. The organization’s services are vital and include establishing financial literacy, especially spending plans; learning and developing a financial savings plan and ensuring low cost loans to meet rent obligations. Linda is proud of the community support that has made these initiatives possible.
The Aboriginal Business Development Centre is involved in the area of small business development and provides entrepreneurs with business advisory services. Its programs include assistance with market research, business plan development, financial forecasting, small business loan acquisition, community economic development and economic development training and conference coordination.
The organization’s offices are located at 3845 - 15th Avenue in Prince George.
The Financial Literacy Program has been operating in Prince George since April 2008 and includes three components: Financial Literacy Information workshops, Rent Bank Loan and Saving Circle. The program’s purpose is to assist individuals in building foundational skills in personal finances and setting financial goals and build healthy futures.
The Rent Bank program provides loans for families and individuals to help secure housing, prevent residential evictions, avoid termination of utilities and assist homeless individuals with a loan for damage deposit, utility hook-up costs and first month’s rent. Saving Circle is a free one-time program offering low-income people the opportunity to save towards required equity and gain money management skills.
The Financial Literacy Program needs community support, including social agencies to refer clients and local residents with limited income to find out how they can become involved in these worthwhile programs. The program needs financial donations/contributions for the matched savings and for the rent bank loans.
Please contact our office at (250) 562-6325 or by email abdc@bcgroup.net to find out how you can become involved, for more information on this program and a listing of workshop dates and locations.
