April 29 - May 1, 2015 Partnerships to Fight Poverty and Improve Opportunities for All – Workplace Engagement

Agenda Introduction Why Workplace Engagement Program Design/Lessons Learned Impact and Evaluation Next Steps Q & A

UW-led Community Coalition with 70+ partners Twelve (12) Years Young Six (6) full-time staff & primarily grant-funded Core Services Tax Prep (VITA & AARP) – 20,000 returns filed annually Financial Literacy – Approx. 10,000 participant hours annually Integrated Service Delivery – RealSense Prosperity Place Began employer-based Tax Prep & Financial Workshops 6 years ago

Why Workplace Engagement? Wanted to reach target audience CBO workshops had low-turnout ALICE was underserved Connect CI more intentionally/strategically with RD Year-long engagement vs. campaign only Deeper connection with workplace donors Greater ability to promote CI agenda Enhanced volunteer recruitment capabilities

Program Design/Lessons Learned Empower employers to take lead and offer options (be flexible) Get the right facilitators on board up front Relatively inexpensive model Evaluation is critical to sustainability and promotion Workplace participants can differ from community workshop participants Corporate connections are great, but don’t forget the non-profit community Make workshops engaging and fun (as much as humanly possible) Providing lunch makes people happy…and more likely to attend!

Impact Outputs Tax Prep (2015) – Ten employers – most also provided workshops Financial Workshops ( ) - 56 Employers hosted 99 workshops to 1,359 employees Most employers hosted at least 3 workshops Participant Profile – Day of Class 98% had checking and 90% had savings accounts 60% checked credit during previous 12 months Only 51% had a written budget Only 36% had paid all bills on time during previous six months Generally less satisfied with current financial condition than average American

Evaluation Methodology – Ulrich Research Services, Inc. Behavioral Changes – 72% of participants achieved a positive outcome in at least one of the following measures 41% did not have a budget on the day-of-class, but said they had a written budget in the follow-up survey. 21% had not checked their credit report on the day-of-class survey, but said they had done so on the follow-up survey. 18% reported having overdraft fees in the 6 months prior to the day-of-class survey, and reported none in the follow-up survey. 15% reported increased or stable debt on the day-of-class survey, and reported decreased debt on the follow-up survey. 10% did not have a savings account on the day-of-class survey, but had obtained one by the follow-up survey.

Next Steps Seeking support/partnerships to allow expansion to rural communities Planning to broaden service options to include financial counseling and coaching Explore targeted delivery options around campaign Host Center for Excellence in Jacksonville in November 2015 Please Join Us!

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