The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) educates consumers about issues that affect their daily lives, including their financial well-being, health, and privacy. Within the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, the Division of Consumer and Business Education (DCBE) seeks to educate and empower consumers by providing them with simple and practical information adapted for particular audiences. This information helps people understand their rights and recognize, avoid, and report frauds.
DCBE produces, promotes, and disseminates educational messages and materials to the widest possible audience through multi-faceted communications and outreach programs. These efforts involve the use of print, broadcast, and electronic media, the Internet, special events, and partnerships with other government agencies, consumer groups, trade organizations, and businesses.
WHAT WE OFFER
The FTC creates consumer and business education materials, participates in hundreds of outreach events each year, including webinars, trainings, presentations, and Twitter chats, publishes hundreds of scam alerts and other blog posts, in English and Spanish, and sends free email alerts to hundreds of thousands of subscribers. The FTC’s bulk publication ordering website allows about 15,000 organizations a year – police, libraries, schools, banks, etc. — to order materials to distribute in their communities.
Our Consumer.gov site is designed to reach audiences with little time or limited English proficiency. It features a bank of basic materials on a variety of topics, including: making a budget, opening a bank account, using credit and prepaid cards, the importance of a credit report, and how and why to protect personal information. The materials are easy-to-use and direct, suitable for students in their teens or adult years. Consumer.gov has lesson plans, videos and audio read-alongs to support people with different learning styles, and includes free resources for teachers, librarians, and other community leaders.
The FTC takes a lead role in organizing the annual National Consumer Protection Week. This coordinated campaign encourages consumers nationwide to take full advantage of their consumer rights and make better-informed decisions.
WHAT WE NEED
Do you teach people about everyday financial issues? Consumer information from the FTC is available at no cost and is in the public domain. That means you can print it, copy it, post it, or link to it freely.
Share our resources with students, friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors.
Share tips, use your social networking skills, or, order free materials to hand out at events or conferences — or just to give out in your community.
WHAT’S NEW
National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW). NCPW, which takes place March 4-10, 2018, is a time to help people understand their consumer rights and make well-informed decisions about money. NCPW.gov is a one-stop site that offers a toolkit to help with planning consumer protection events in every community, and also a toolkit for reaching members of the military about consumer protection. NCPW.gov has a list of helpful tips and resources from federal, state and local agencies and other consumer protection groups. The website also offers free materials that people can order in English and Spanish. If ordering for an event, please allow up to four weeks for delivery.
Kids’ Online Safety. The FTC developed Net Cetera, an awareness campaign to teach kids and parents how to stay safe online. The research-based campaign was informed by input provided by internet safety, child development, cyberbullying, and public health experts from around the country. Consumer and Business Education has provided more than ten million free copies of the campaign’s flagship guide for parents, Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online, to schools, school districts, law enforcement, libraries and other community organizations across the nation. The online Net Cetera Community Outreach Toolkit includes the guide for parents, a booklet for kids, videos for parents and kids, slides and discussion guides to use in a presentation, and ideas to help people spread the word about online safety.
CLEARINGHOUSE RESOURCES
Are Car Ads Taking You for a Ride?
Building a Better Credit Report
Buying a Used Car
Choosing a Vocational School
Competition Counts: How Consumers Win When Businesses Compete
Consumer.gov – What to Know and Do
Rental Listing Scams
Shopping Tips
SPREAD THE WORD
Link to consumer.ftc.gov or any of our individual publications. Visitors to your website will appreciate having a direct link to important information from the nation’s consumer protection agency.
- Subscribe to our blog for consumer news and scam alerts.
- Like our Federal Trade Commission Facebook page.
- Post our videos on your blog or site. You’ll find embed code in our media center.
- Follow @FTC for the latest tweets from the FTC.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Colleen Tressler
202-326-2368
ctressler@ftc.gov
