The ULRV’s Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) is staffed with a team of dedicated and professionally trained counselors who provide group and one-on-one financial counseling as a free public service. Their expertise and commitment ensure that residents can address their economic challenges and needs, plan for their futures, and achieve their financial goals, fostering a sense of security and trust.
The core tenets of the FEC model are:
- Financial counseling is a free public service. It offers group and one-on-one counseling toempower clients to address complex financial challenges.
- Counselors are professionally trained according to the National Urban League’s (NUL) Counselor Training Standards and a Code of Ethics.
- Counseling services are managed through rigorous data; the central NUL FEC database collects over 200 client data points, and impact is measured against specific financial behavior change outcomes.
- Because financial instability impacts the need for and success of other social services, strategic FEC partnerships with different services such as housing and foreclosure prevention, workforce development, prisoner reentry, and benefits access are critical.
- Financial counseling serves a critical public need, and NUL’s oversight provides for credibility, accountability, scale, and program sustainability.
The FEC’s Mission is to facilitate cross-sector collaboration between government, nonprofits, the private sector, anchor institutions, and the community to advance community wealth-building policies, programs, initiatives, and systems throughout the River Valley.
To achieve this mission, ULRV has developed an action plan focused on three directives:
- Increase financial and homebuying literacy, inclusion, and access to credit.
- Foster business, employment, and workforce development
- Facilitate asset building through homeownership, savings, and investments.
ULRV’s aspiration to enhance the quality-of-life outcomes, such as affordable housing, quality education, living wage employment, healthy environments, and transportation, are equitably experienced by the people currently living and working in low-income neighborhoods. By bringing together public and private investments, programs, and policies that meet the needs of residents, including communities of color, and reduce racial disparities, we are making a significant impact on the community, inspiring hope and a brighter future.
