My name is Jude Gilford. I help people take back control of their personal finances. No more sleepless nights! MAP shows you how to take charge with easy-to-follow steps guaranteed to turn those debt-servicing dollars into YOU-servicing dollars.

I had been a marine insurance broker before co-founding Money Awareness Program (MAP) in San Francisco in 2000. It started as a community service project offered at churches and “Y’s”, then MAP became the provider for the financial educational portion of the then San Francisco District Attorney, Terence Hallinan’s, Bad Check Program. Here is the text from his letter of recommendation:

CORPORATE TESTIMONIALS

Terence Hallinan
District Attorney
City & County of San Francisco
850 Bryant Street
San Francisco CA 94103

 
January 17, 2003

 
Jude Gilford & Frank Velasquez
Money Awareness Program
825 Burnett Avenue, Suite 11
San Francisco CA  94131

 
Dear Jude & Frank:
It is with pleasure that I write you this letter of recommendation.

 
I have reviewed the Money Awareness Program materials you have developed and I am very impressed. The materials have succeeded in presenting a complicated subject in a very easy to understand format. The information you present is very interesting and exceptionally helpful.

 
I understand why over 98% of the assigned attendees have evaluated your workshop as “Excellent.” I have received a number of letters from your students. Their praises and comments about your compassionate and inspiring presentation are to be commended.

 
The staff of my Bad Check Enforcement Unit is equally impressed with the lasting impact your classes are making on the attendees. To date, the repeat offender rate for the individuals we have referred to your program has been zero. This is remarkable.
Kudos to you both. We look forward to a long and rewarding relationship.

 
Very truly yours,

 
Terence Hallinan

While the Bad Check Program was our primary client, we also conducted other financial workshops for other businesses and organizations:

Holiday Inn San Francisco Civic Center
50 Eighth Street
San Francisco CA 94103

January 27, 2003

 
Jude Gilford & Frank Velasquez
Money Awareness Program
825 Burnett Avenue, #11
San Francisco CA 94131

 
Dear Jude & Frank:

 
It is with a sense of deep appreciation and sincere gratitude that I write this letter. The Money Awareness Program on simplified financial literacy for our managers was a huge success. We are still amazed at how much life-changing information was learned in such a short amount of time.

 
There was so much good information but to highlight a few topics: The information on credit card tricks and traps is astonishing. Equally significant is becoming educated on the importance of FICO scores and understanding one’s own credit report, along with learning to assess disposable income, tracking expenses and success strategies to spend effectively, all this resulting in empowering people to generate money for savings and safe investing simply by reallocating their current dollars.

 
Your program has taken the fear and mystery out of so many complicated and emotional ties to money. We were all impressed and thankful for your simplified, easy to understand solutions to many of life’s real financial challenges. Your program offers a ray of hope where people need it most.

 
Your concept of two one-and-a-half hour “Lunch & Learn” sessions leaves us with only one question, “Will you come back?” It’s easy to understand why all our attendees evaluated your workshop as “Excellent.” Collectively we say, “We want more.”

 
If there were something equivalent to the Academy Award in the effective life-changing workshop arena, your program would be under the spotlights eve year. Congratulations to you both.

 
Sincerely,

Kay Chew Low
Human Resources Director

Rev. Karl J. Aull
Unity Christ Church
2690 Ocean Avenue
San Francisco CA 94132

January 21, 2003

Jude Gilford & Frank Velasquez
Money Awareness Program
825 Burnett Avenue, Suite 11
San Francisco CA 94131


Dear Jude & Frank:
 

It is with tremendous joy that I write this letter of recommendation. The Money Awareness Program is, and continues to be, a blessing to our church community. In the past year over 75 of our members have taken this course and every one of them rated the program as excellent.
 
I personally took the course last year and can say with confidence that it is the best program on money awareness that I have ever seen. Being a minister I have been many presenters on various subjects and I would place you in the top three that I have experienced. Your knowledge of the material and the loving way you present it makes everyone at ease.

Your program has benefited our church community on many levels. The service you provide to education others is commendable. You are prime examples of people who live with integrity and I am grateful to support you in your mission.


Sincerely,
Karl J. Aull, Minister

In early 2004, as I was about to relocate to Tucson, a friend asked me to present MAP to a Woman’s Recovery Facility:

The San Francisco Women’s Rehabilitation Foundation, Inc.
255 Tenth Avenue
San Francisco CA 94118

January 16, 2004

Dear Jude:

You were hands-down the highest rated presenter and program we have had in my four years at the San Francisco Women’s Rehabilitation Foundation.

Our 13 residents, in early recovery from alcohol and other drugs, come to us with little or nothing, having lost jobs, family and support systems.

This year has been very difficult for them. Finding work has been a real challenge. Very few residents have found full-time employment in their chosen field this entire year. Most are under-employed with the majority working part-time, if at all.

Our residents feel the stress of struggling to pay their fees along with their financial wreckage of the past. Stress is unhealthy for someone in early recovery. Self-support is one fundamental and very crucial step in the recovery process.

So you can see how very meaningful your presentation was to them. For the first time, I had a resident call me from work to tell me how much your information meant, one e-mailed and two others came to my office to say ‘thank you.’ I am passing their words on along with my gratitude.

I would highly recommend MAP to anyone in any stage of recovery. You really gave our residents hope and a means to clean up their financial wreckage, increasing their chances of long term sobriety.

I thank you for sharing it with them.


Sincerely,

Ardis Jerome
Executive Director

MAP’s goal is to encourage people to pull financial topics out from under the carpet, and get them to the light of the dinner table where our past mistakes can be aired out and laughed away! If our children do indeed expect to be making $150,000 in their first jobs (see Money Coaching for Individuals), then we need to start putting things in perspective for them, don’t you agree? Financial literacy is not rocket science; it’s only a matter of skill-building that anyone can master.

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