Semi-Annual Grant Report No. 3 (January 1 - June 31, 2017)

Background

The Texas Financial Education Endowment (TFEE) Grant Program awarded eight organizations an aggregate amount of $249,000 in funds for the 2016-2017 grant cycle. These organizations strive to increase and promote the financial capability of all Texas consumers.

Program Highlights

During the reporting period (January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017), TFEE funds provided 2,352 hours of direct financial education training to 4,013 Texans consumers. Many of the programs have surpassed their projected goals and are continuing to provide financial education to more individuals than anticipated.

However, some of the programs faced challenges with collecting post-training progress data. Some programs implemented a stipend program, new surveying tools and/or stressed the importance of this data allowing for an increase in data collection this reporting cycle. Post-training data collection, in addition to client outreach, retention and engagement, remain a common challenge among grantees.

Financial Status

*1 year grant cycle

**Recipient did not request to be reimbursed for any expenses during this reporting period.

La Puerta is a CDCB initiative for financial empowerment through free financial coaching, workshops, and income tax assistance. The goal is to assist families to reach a status of financial health. The 3 major tenets to financial health as defined by the La Puerta program are for families to be able to: 1) Maintain a household budget that efficiently uses their monthly income to meet all their expenses, 2) Save money for emergencies, and 3) Establish a plan for their financial future.

Program Type: Financial Coaching

Grant Term: One Year (January 2016 – December 2016) | Amount Awarded: $32,000

Total reimbursed YTD: $32,000

Program Status to Date: Completed

A total of 62 financial literacy classes were conducted serving 974 individuals during 2016. Now that the one-year grant term has ended, the program is focused on simplifying the post-training survey, incorporating a qualitative 'applied activity' for clients to self-report as part of the assessment tool and implementing advertising that better explains the opportunities provided with financial coaching.

Program Activities

• Program was completed on December 31, 2016

Upcoming Activities

• The program has secured additional funding sources and will continue providing financial literacy classes
• The program’s longitudinal impact will be summarized for the final TFEE Grant Report

Easter Seals of Greater Houston provides first-time financial coaching, homebuyer education and homebuyer programs for people with all types of disabilities, and meet low-income guidelines. The program aims to improve the community by: revitalizing neighborhoods; helping people understand credit and debt; assisting with asset building and savings; credit boot camps; financial coaching; and collaborating with partners to create homeownership opportunities.

Program Type: Adult Financial Education & Capability

Grant Term: Two Years (January 2016 – December 2017) | Amount Awarded: $32,000

Funds Requested for January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017: $8,000 | Total Reimbursed YTD: $24,000

Program Status to Date

During the 3^rd cycle of grant funding, Easter Seals of Greater Houston conducted ten group classes with a total of 74 attendees. In addition, 15 individuals and two families received one-on-one coaching towards multiple individual goals. The program has also successfully helped five individuals and two families prepare to purchase a home through a down payment assistance program. Lastly, the program has continued to expand their outreach throughout Montgomery County with the addition of over ten new partnerships.

Program Activities

• Conducted ten group classes
• Conducted one-on-one coaching sessions for 15 individuals
• Conducted long-term one-on-one coaching for two families assisting them in purchasing a home

Major Achievements

• Provided a total of 91 individuals financial education through group classes, and individual credit and debt counseling sessions
• Provided home buying assistance to two families and five individuals
• Expanded “collaboration network” to meet clients’ wide range of needs

Biggest Challenges

• Creating customized plans for the wide range of financial goals and needs of their demographically diverse participants

Upcoming Activities

• Improve the efficiency of the referral process to ensure clients are receiving appropriate services
• Improve their current way of monitoring client progress

El Paso Credit Union HOAP, promotes community development by targeting the financially underserved community to provide them the ability to develop family assets, and economic and financial stability. HOAP provides financial education, one-on-one housing counseling, credit counseling, and down-payment assistance to low to moderate income homebuyers. The HOAP provides housing opportunities to community members who would otherwise be unable to become homeowners.

Program Type: Adult Financial Education & Capability

Grant Term: One Year (January 2016 – December 2016) | Amount Awarded: $25,000

Total Reimbursed YTD:  $21,505                                     

Program Status to Date: Completed

A total of 50 financial literacy seminars were conducted with approximately 786 individuals in attendance during 2016. Now that the one-year grant term has ended, the program is focused on finding and implementing new ways to keep participants actively engaged.

Program Activities

• Program was completed on December 31, 2016

Upcoming Activities

• The program has secured additional funding sources and will continue providing financial literacy classes
• The program’s longitudinal impact will be summarized for the final TFEE Grant Report

Family Pathfinders of Tarrant County

Family Pathfinders provides low and moderate income families financial coaching to help clients adopt positive financial behaviors and increase their financial stability. TFEE funding supports the Two Generation Stability Program that provides one-on-one financial coaching services to parents whose children receive case management services from Communities in Schools (CIS).  

Program Type: Financial Coaching

Grant Term: Two Years (January 2016 – December 2017) | Amount Awarded: $32,000

Funds Requested for January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017: $10,315 | Total Reimbursed YTD: $26,329

Program Status to Date

During the 3^rd cycle of grant funding, Family Pathfinders of Tarrant County provided a total of 28 families with one-on-one financial coaching services. However, Pathfinders is currently working with a core group of 17 active financial counseling clients. The program partnered with Arlington Collegiate High School to enroll four additional families after CIS chose to withdraw from the program. In addition, the program uses non-traditional work hours to counteract clients’ personal obligations that often act as a barrier to client participation.

Program Activities

• Provided financial coaching services to a total of 17 families

Major Achievements

• Enrolled four new families into the program
• Four clients successfully completed the program
• Secured a new partnership with Arlington Collegiate High School

Biggest Challenges

• Participants work/family obligations along with transportation issues continues to be a program challenge
• Identifying additional participants

Upcoming Activities

• Identify ways to encourage participation by remaining engaged with current partners and searching for additional participants
• Staff will continue to participate in professional development and host train-the-trainer sessions to increase the financial coaching knowledge among staff and local area practitioners

Family Service Association seeks to increase economic opportunities for low-income families and individuals. The Financial Empowerment Services program provides San Antonio residents financial education and capability through one-on-one financial counseling. The focus is on reducing debt, increasing credit scores, savings, banking and wealth building.  

Program Type: Financial Coaching

Grant Term: Two Years (January 2016 – December 2017) | Amount Awarded: $32,000

Funds Requested for January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017: $11,211 |Total Reimbursed YTD: $13,219

Program Status to Date

During the 3^rd cycle of grant funding, Family Service Association of San Antonio conducted 937 one-on-one financial coaching sessions for 625 participants. The program is now fully staffed and has secured other forms of funding allowing for better long-term program sustainability. Family Service Association of San Antonio is still working on a 4-6 week wait list for new clients, proving to consistently be their biggest challenge each reporting period.

Program Activities

• Provided 625 participants with one-on-one financial counseling sessions
• 47 individuals entered Job Training and are working to secure gainful employment
• Assisted 9 participants in avoiding foreclosure or eviction
• Assisted 3 participants with purchasing a home

Major Achievements

• Assisted $4 million in debt reduction in 2017
• Survey data shows 158 individuals reduced their debt by 10%
• Survey data shows 93 individuals were able to increase their credit scores by a minimum of 35 points

Biggest Challenges

• Meeting demand for financial counseling; program has a 4-6 week wait list

Upcoming Activities

• Enhance and expand the program to serve an increased number of clients

Goodwill’s financial literacy program strives to increase the financial knowledge and capability of low-income clients, leading to increased self-sufficiency and economic security. 

Program Type: Adult Financial Education & Capability

Grant Term: 2 Years (January 2016 – December 2017) | Amount Awarded: $32,000

Funds Requested for January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017: $16,682| Total Reimbursed YTD: $27,654                                           

Program Status to Date

During the 3^rd cycle of grant funding, Goodwill Industries of Central Texas offered 9 Financial Literacy and Education classes each week, in addition to their one-on-one counseling services, allowing them to service a total of 287 participants. In addition, the program has implemented a new follow-up plan, using Survey Monkey, to help solve their post-class data challenge but are still not receiving the desired survey participation.

Program Activities

• Conducted nine group financial education seminars weekly
• Currently offers six different classes: Budgeting, Savings, Credit, Personal Finance 101, How to Buy a Car and Entrepreneurial Skills

Major Achievements

• Provided 144 individuals financial education through financial education seminars
• Increased interest and response from clients
• 90% of clients indicated the classes contained relevant information and would recommend the course to others

Biggest Challenges

• Large percentage of the program clients are homeless or unemployed and have difficulty focusing on financial capability when their basic needs are not met
• Securing follow-up participation post-class

Upcoming Activities

• Research virtual options to provide financial education such as a “Money Habitudes” mobile application
• Working to improve the follow-up process to better track participant’s progress

By working with kindergarten through grade 12 educators, TCEE aims to plant the seeds of a healthier U.S. economy and personal financial stability. TCEE’s goal is to provide teachers with hands-on lessons and programs that allow students to practice implementing real life economic and financial skills, and thus pave the way to a life of economic security and a Smarter Texas.

Program Type: K-12 Financial Education & Capability

Grant Term: Two Years (January 2016 – December 2017) I Amount Awarded: $32,000

Funds Requested for January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017: $6,803 Total Reimbursed YTD: $22,850                            

Program Status to Date

During the 3^rd cycle of grant funding, Texas Council on Economic Education effectively focused on increasing the number of teachers providing post-class data. TCEE secured 25 teachers covering 35 classes to begin reporting post-class participant data. In addition, TCEE offered three train-the-trainer workshops allowing them to surpass their goal of training a total of 125 teachers by more than 100 additional trained teachers.

Program Activities

• Conducted 3 personal financial literacy workshops
• Trained 25 additional teachers who were able to reach 2,982 students

Major Achievements

• Surpassed the proposed goal of trained trainers by more than 100
• Implemented a stipend program to encourage teacher participation in post-class

Biggest Challenges

• Low enrollment in workshops resulted in fewer scheduled workshops
• Collecting testing data from teachers who attended workshops

Upcoming Activities

• All workshops proposed in the application have been completed; TCEE will continue to report on student testing data
• Will focus on increasing teacher participation in post-class data collecting

The mission of TSAHC is to serve the housing needs of low-income and underserved families and communities. TSAHC provides a variety of programs aimed at helping consumers access affordable homes and apartments, as well as high-quality home buyer education financial coaching, credit counseling and foreclosure prevention services in their communities. In addition, TSAHC administers the Texas Statewide Homebuyer Education Program (TSHEP) on behalf of the state of Texas to ensure financial counselors have the training they need to provide the highest quality counseling services.

Program Type: Adult Financial Education & Capability

Grant Term: Two Years (January 2016 – December 2017) |Amount Awarded: $32,000

Funds Requested for January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017: $0 |Total Reimbursed YTD: $9,500

Program Status to Date

During the 3^rd cycle of grant funding, Texas State affordable Housing Corporation completed one week-long training workshop. TSAHC has trained 107 housing and financial counselors during the grant term, who have helped approximately 11,285 low and moderate income families every year. The largest challenged faced by TSAHC is collecting data from all counselors who have attended a training.

Program Activities

• Provided two week-long TSHEP trainings

Major Achievements

• Have served 65 Texas counties
• Have educated more than 550 consumers through weekly educational webinars providing an overview of the homeownership process

Biggest Challenges

• Collecting data from counselors who have attended TSHEP training
• Meeting the demand for financial counseling

Upcoming Activities

• Exploring ways to increase post-class survey participation