CWU’s Mobility Mentoring® Services staff and programs promote economic independence among low-income women and their children by offering highly individualized basic skills training, education, and career guidance to homeless and stably housed low-income women and their families. Specially trained staff use CWU’s Bridge to Self-Sufficiency® and related tools to guide program participants through goal setting and self-assessment activities that determine clients’ optimal route to economic independence based on their unique circumstances. Program participants then set and attain personalized educational, financial and career-related goals that will lead them out of poverty.  They also receive a range of services to help develop the internal assets and life skills that are essential to achieve self-sufficiency.  This program provides a very well thought out theory of change that builds on what we have learned from brain science research about the importance of and how to develop executive function skills that serve as the foundation for achieving goals and being a successful adult.

Crittenton Women’s Union

Financial coaching has been adopted by some practitioners in the asset-building field for use with low-income clients and by some financial planners for more affluent clientele. Coaching has appeal because it is centered on changing financial behaviors over time based on an ongoing relationship between the coach and the client. Coaching is differentiated from counseling in that it focuses on changing financial behaviors, rather than focusing on a specific event or problem. Counseling tends to be more therapeutic in nature, while coaching endeavors to help a client improve his or her behavior in order to achieve self-defined goals. This report reviews financial coaching programs with an emphasis on services for low-income families. While its explicit focus is on financial coaching, the principles of coaching can also be applied to employment programs.

Financial Coaching: A New Approach for Asset Building Report