Financial Stability
Closing the racial wealth gap and building wealth among the Black and Brown residents must begin with improving their financial health. In metro Atlanta, households led by people of color are less financially secure than white households across nearly all measures of financial stability.
Consider:
- The median household income for Black households in the city of Atlanta is $35,048, compared to $102,693 for white households.[8]
- Thirty-nine percent of Metro Atlanta households of color are unbanked —they do not have a bank account —or are underbanked and use costly alternative financial services (like check cashing services) for basic transaction and credit needs.[9]
- Over half of the Black and Latinx families in metro Atlanta are liquid asset poor. They do not have enough savings to cover basic expenses for three months if they experience a financial crisis (job loss, medical emergency etc.)[10]
- Over a quarter of the Black and Latinx families in metro Atlanta have negative or zero net worth, a common measure of wealth.[11]
LISC strengthens the financial stability of individuals of color in metro Atlanta.
How we do it
(1) LISC helps local workforce development organizations implement LISC’s Financial Opportunity Center (FOC) model. FOCs deliver career coaching, one-on-one financial coaching, and access to public benefits in an integrated way. FOC clients are more likely to get and keep a well-paying job than people receiving employment services alone (the traditional workforce development approach).
Atlanta-based FOCs include the Urban League of Greater Atlanta, Atlanta Center for Self-Sufficiency, Inspiritus, STRIVE, and the Goodwill of North Georgia’s Old National Career Center. These FOCs are conveniently located, trusted, and provide quality services.
Since 2019, Atlanta-based FOCs have helped 165 clients improve their credit scores, 116 clients increase their net income, 114 clients increase their net worth, and 199 clients obtain jobs paying an average of $12/hr.
(2) LISC works with employers and FOCs to improve the quality of entry-level jobs by developing programs that improve financial stability and help entry-level employees advance to jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage.
(3) LISC expands access to safe financial products that increase banking, savings, and credit building through its FOCs. People of color are more likely to be excluded from the banking system, often due to lack of adequate funds to open an account and lack of access. LISC will connect FOC clients to products that help them enter the financial mainstream, save for the future, and build a good credit history.
(4) LISC seeds and advises cash transfer programs, like the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity (GRO) Fund’s guaranteed income program. Extensive research shows that receiving cash with no strings attached on a regular basis can improve recipients’ financial stability. Because recipients use the cash to meet their basic needs (rent, food, childcare etc.) they can pursue better employment opportunities, care for loved ones, and help their families.
An independent study has found that Financial Opportunity Center clients, who access a range of services, have more success meeting their financial goals than people in programs offering employment assistance alone.
In this white paper the LISC Research & Evaluation team examines recent outcomes for Financial Opportunity Center (FOC) participants to assess the early success of the Bridges to Career Opportunities (BCO) model.
LISC’s financial stability programs connect families living on a low- to moderate- income with the financial and labor market mainstream.
Demonstrating Economic Liberation: How guaranteed income pilot programs point to new solutions to poverty
