Faye Griffiths-Smith

Family Economics and Resource Management Associate Extension Educator

Faye Griffiths-Smith is an Associate Extension Educator for UConn Extension in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources. Her expertise is in designing financial education workshops and resources for professional audiences as well as adults and youth on topics such as goal setting, budgeting, family communication about money, saving, money personalities, consumer protection, credit, and debt management, among others. As President, she leads the Connecticut Jump$tart Coalition which promotes financial literacy for young people. She continues to serve on the Executive Board of the Connecticut Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. She previously served as the chair for the Family Economics and Resource Management within the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Since 2017, she has been involved in providing severe weather preparedness education through the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN). Her work has focused on financial and family preparedness and tailoring messaging for unique audiences. Nationally, she serves on the EDEN Executive Board as the Family and Consumer Sciences Committee Chair and is a member of the Marketing and Membership Committee.

In June 2020, she became program administrator of the UConn People Empowering People (PEP) Communities Program, an innovative personal and family development program with a strong community focus. The UConn Extension PEP Communities Program builds on the unique strengths and life experiences of the participants, emphasizing connections between individuals and community action. Inmates in some Connecticut Correctional Institutions participate in a modified version of this program called UConn Extension PEP CI and is led by volunteer facilitators. The program encourages inmates to be self-reflective and to draw on their unique strengths, life experiences, and capacities. UConn PEPCI volunteers create conditions for offenders to develop the willingness and ability to take responsibility for their lives and become empowered.