1. CAP 2015 Conference Innovative Approaches for Financial and Economic Empowerment August 29, 2015

2. LISC Overview Increasing Family Income and Wealth
Sustainable Communities are good places to live, raise families, work and do business
Expanding Investment in Housing and Other Real Estate
Increasing Family Income and Wealth
Stimulating Economic Development
Improving Access to Quality Education
Supporting Healthy Environments and Lifestyles

3. What is the FOC Model?
Marsha Murrington, Senior Program Officer – LISC Bay Area

4. Family Income & Wealth Building Goals
Sufficient family income
Transferable job skills
Manageable expenses
Smart debt
Post-secondary education plan
Real opportunity for 65
Sign of a thriving community is::-- LISC’s family goals

5. Financial Opportunity Center Description
Goal: Poverty reduction
3 Services Integrated
Employment Placement, Skill
Development & Career Advancement
Financial Counseling & Coaching
Includes relevant financial products
Income Supports Access
Public benefits & tax credits
This framework is designed to help low-income families increase their income, reduce their financial transaction costs and generate new wealth from themselves and their families. This is accomplished through the integration of three core services
LISC has been implementing the CWF model for several years, starting in Chicago and then building out to five other cities. The premise of the program is that by integrating 3 sets of services we are addressing how people stay poor versus just addressing one aspect of it.
Traditional workforce programs focus on job placement or wage increase as the main goal,
Financial counseling programs may help people resolve one problem or another- getting out of debt, home purchase, etc..
Too isolated- not focusing on the whole financial picture of the client
CWFs focus on poverty reduction and wealth creation, not any single transaction
CWFs address the financial bottom line of the client- not just their income or expense needs- need to look at the long term
CWFs integrate 3 sets of services employment, income supports- such as the EIC or food stamps, and financial counseling. Participants in the CWFs get all three sets of services to boost their income and reduce their expenses
This project is one of the ways that throught he Sustainablke Communities is interacting with new and different funders and cbo partners

6. Financial Opportunity Center Key Operational Elements
On-site employment services (job placement, retention, re-attachment, and advancement)
On-site one-on-one financial coaching tailored to the needs of the working poor
On-site access to income supports (public benefits, tax credits, tax return preparation)
Intentional/well-planned integration of the three cores services
Data tracking to improve program performance
Center is built off existing services

7. Financial Opportunity Centers Basics
Asset building occurs over 40 yrs
Single transaction services inadequate
Focus on improving financial capability of the client and asset building behavior
Client success is defined as:
Income increase & improvement in ability to obtain assets
Work with client for 3 years

8. FOC Model Integration Sacred Heart Community Service
Christian Luna, Manager, Joblink Employment Program– Sacred Heart Community Service, San Jose, CA

9. Phases of Integration
Organizational buy-in: leadership and staff, volunteers
ETO integration, compatibility with existing processes, HMIS database
Integrate volunteers to build FOC capacity and sustainability
Other initiatives: Fresh Carts Silicon Valley, Financial Opportunity Corps, MOOVE (Massive Open Online Volunteer Engagement)

10. Ongoing Organizational Impacts
Compelling data illustrating our FOC’s story of moving people out of poverty
Detailed demographics of FOC client base
Evidence-based approach to grant strategies which place FOC at competitive advatange
Monthly and quarterly monitoring of program effectiveness and impacts with tools like ETO.

11. Impact of Integrated Service Delivery
Vicky Rodriguez, Program Officer – LISC National

12. Accessing Affordable Financial Services
(13,321)
Before
19,008 $
2,436 -
21,444
8,808
8,988
4,752
3,444
3,108
2,880
31,980
380
1,809
596
2,785
34,765
(7,112)
Workforce Development
25,344 $
2,436 -
27,780
8,808
8,988
4,752
3,444
3,108
2,880
31,980
507
1,809
596
2,912
34,892
(518)
(960)
(2,000)
Access to
Benefits
25,344 $
2,436 -
27,780
7,603
5,842
4,752
3,444
1,942
2,880
26,463
507
1,809
596
2,912
25,897
1,883
(2,000)
25,344 $
2,436 23
27,803
7,603
5,842
4,752
3,444
1,942
2,880
26,463 60 70 85
215
(518)
(960)
23,200
4,602
Accessing Affordable Financial Services
Jones Family in Baltimore, MD
Income
Wage
Child Support
Interest Income from Savings (avg. $1500 at 1.5%)
Total Income
Expenses
Housing/Utilities
Child Care
Food
Transportation
Health Care
Miscellaneous
Total Household Expenses
Check-cashing
Furniture Finance Charges (valued at $2000)
Emergency Loans (or pay-day)
Total Finance Charges
Earned Income Tax Credit (federal)
Child Care Tax Credit
Child Tax Credit
Total Expenses
Net Income
When you focus on the financial bottom line- you realize that just one service does not get a client out of poverty.
Workforce gains only helps a client get ahead when in conjunction with the others, same with affordable financial services/expenses reduction
If we are not connecting people across service areas then the clients are constantly in a state of robbing Peter to pay Paul and if one thing out of the ordinary comes up then our client may lose that job they just got or may bounce a check and cannot pay back the money to the bank so they become unbanked.

13. Outcomes Tracked Changes in net income Wages, public benefits,
Changes in net worth
Assets - liabilities
Employment retention
6 months and longer
Career/wage advancement
Debt reduction
Budget development/implementation
Credit report/score improvement
Bundling of the three core services

14. Improving Financial Outcomes for Low-Income Households

15. Program Data Analysis Research Questions Methodology Strengths
How do bundled services affect outcomes?
Program data: 34 months, 40,000 clients, 62 FOCs, 15 markets
What do financial pathways look like?
Program contacts, budgets, balance sheets, and job holding
What metrics should we be tracking?
Strengths
Limitations
Flexible analysis
No control group/counterfactual
Extremely rich dataset
Program data limitations

20. Lessons Learned
Employment must be secure for lasting economic improvements
Solid employment is not sufficient for economic success
High levels of debt, high expenses undermine the value of work
When work feels like it ‘pays”, people stay employed
3 core services mutually reinforcing
Economic achievement is a culmination of a series of smaller victories and changes in behaviors/habits

21. Lessons Learned: Client-Staff Interaction
Single transaction services inadequate
From the beginning of relationship address:
Increasing income
Reducing expenses
Building assets
Focus on asset building behavior

22. ?Questions? Christian Luna – Sacred Heart cluna@sacredheartcs.org
Marsha Murrington – LISC Bay Area
Vicky Rodriguez – LISC National