Today, we’re expanding the Your Money, Your Goals toolkit. This toolkit is a comprehensive and interactive guide designed for organizations that serve low-income consumers. It covers topics like budgeting for daily expenses, managing debt, and avoiding common financial traps. We’re releasing three versions of the toolkit for:
- Organizations that engage volunteers
- Legal aid organizations
- Workers organizations
This expansion builds on the success of last year’s launch of Your Money, Your Goals. Since then, we’ve trained over 2,000 frontline staff in both public and private non-profit social service organizations. Staff that provide a wide range of services including homeless services, mental health and emergency services, case management, and nutrition assistance programs reported feeling more confident about identifying financial challenges and resources to help their clients.
We’re also teaming up with sites in 31 communities across 19 states to deliver workshops to community volunteers, legal aid staff, and other organizations that work with low-income consumers. These programs will enable organizations to train an additional 1,000 staff and volunteers this summer. For example:
- NAACP state conferences and local branches will provide YMYG workshops through statewide events and community convenings.
- Circles®, USA works to address poverty by strengthening the capacities of communities. Twelve local chapters in eight states will equip participants to put YMYG tools and resources to work in their communities.
- Christ Our Redeemer Community Development Corporation in Irvine, CA, will engage a highly diverse group of community leaders and local congregations through the Orange County Interdenominational Alliance in its training effort.
- The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority will provide YMYG training to social services organizations throughout the state that engage volunteers to assist in serving clients as well as community, service, and faith-based organizations in Indianapolis.
- Public Law Center in Santa Ana, CA, provides legal services to low-income individuals and will use the toolkit to help train their staff as well as the many volunteer lawyers they coordinate in Orange County.
- Florida Legal Services (FLS) in Tallahassee, FL, is a statewide support center that works with local legal aid organizations to improve their ability to provide legal assistance to those in need in their communities by providing service delivery coordination, training, case consultation and technical assistance. FLS will help coordinate the training and delivery of the toolkit to other organizations in the state.
- Community Legal Services in Phoenix, AZ, operates a volunteer lawyer program which will help coordinate with other volunteer lawyer and legal aid programs in other parts of the state to help Latino, Native American, and other clients access the empowerment tools.
- Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is the third-largest legal aid and helps more than 20,000 low-income Texans get access to civil justice each year. TRLA will help coordinate trainings for other state legal aid and pro bono organizations.
The new toolkits contain additional resources including an implementation guide and presentation slides with trainer notes.
