Moving from Debt to Assets

In 2005 GBIO launched Moving from Debt to Assets, a groundbreaking financial education and empowerment program that has helped more than four hundred families that are members of GBIO institutions to build strong financial futures.   The idea for this program began in 2004, when GBIO decided to hold focus groups and hear what issues people were concerned about.  Over and over again, GBIO leaders heard, from city and suburb, from low-income and middle-income people:  “I'm drowning in debt!” “I just can't seem to save anything!” “My credit cards are just out of control!”  In response, GBIO designed a financial education and empowerment program entitled Moving from Debt to Assets, which would be available to members of GBIO institutions.  After discussions with Citizens Bank, the bank which held the largest share of our member’s savings, initial funding was secured, and the program launched.

The Moving from Debt to Assets program has four components to help participants learn to manage their money, create and stick to a budget, and set and achieve goals:

  • A class in financial education, which includes topics such as goal-setting, creating a budget, how to save money, understanding and using credit, and wise use of banking services.  One session will be devoted to a workshop on the new opportunities and obligations regarding health insurance under the new law that GBIO helped pass.  Classes generally meet once a week, for 2½ hours, for 6 weeks.
  • An optionalpeer support group following the class, in which participants help each other stay on track toward achieving their financial goals.  In these monthly meetings, led by trained peer leaders, participants celebrate each others' successes, share problems, come up with solutions, and learn more about topics that they identify. 
  • Three sessions with a professional financial counselor.  The counselor helps participants create a budget, deal with credit issues, solve problems, and set and achieve goals.  This is available only to low-income participants (the majority of the people in the program).
  • A grant of $500 to help participants to reduce debts or save for the future.  This is available only to low-income participants.

What makes the Moving from Debt to Assets program a groundbreaking national model is:

  • Its combination of multiple components -  It is not just classes, but counseling, peer support groups, and grants, all designed to have the maximum impact, and
  • Its delivery through institutions that are part of the fabric of people’s lives– It works through the 66 institutions (mostly churches and synagogues) that are members of GBIO, institutions that can support the participants in the changes they have chosen to make through the program, and
  • Its scale – Launching 22 classes in three years, it has touched the lives of more than 400 families,

Accomplishments

  • Since October 2005, 418 participants, representing 24 institutions (19 of which are churches or synagogues), have graduated from 22 classes.  The institutions are located in Dorchester, Roxbury, South Boston, Mattapan, Jamaica Plain, Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, and Newton.
  • 95% of the graduates have been low-income (< 80% of the median income)
  • 381 participants have received $500 grants (This is not 95% of 418, because we have a policy of one grant per married couple, even if both spouses participated in the class.)
  • 82% of the graduates have been People of Color; 65% have been members of immigrant ethnic groups.
  • 50% of the classes have been offered in languages other than English:  8 classes have been offered in Haitian Kreyol, 2 in Spanish, and 1 in Cape Verdean Creole.
  • 51 peer leaders of the support groups have been trained in group facilitation skills.

Moving from Debt to Assets has been recognized by the Boston Alliance for Economic Inclusion (initiated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC]) and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley as an example of a “Promising Practice,” and was nominated by Citizens Bank for the FDIC Chairman’s Award for Innovation in Financial Education

What Participants Have Said about Moving from Debt to Assets

Moving from Debt to Assets was the best class that I, myself, have taken.  Personally, before, I didn’t know how to save.  It has not only taught me how to save, but also to better my life in many different ways.

-H. Vilfort in Class 10, Church of God, Dorchester

When I started, money was controlling me.  It was telling me what to buy, when to buy, how much to buy, how fast to buy.  It was sad.  In the few classes we had, I learned how to turn the tables around and control money.

-D. Vedrine in Class 8, Boston Missionary Baptist Church, Roxbury

This is the first program designed to help you get a foot up.  That’s why I love this program!

-M. Forbes in Class 4, Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, Dorchester

When we walked in the classroom for the first time, we were greeted with a “you can do this” spirit – and it will never leave us.

-Anonymous Participant in Class 9, Roxbury Presbyterian Church, Roxbury

If it wasn’t for this program, forget it.  We might as well dig a hole and climb into it.

-D. Vital in Class 10, Church of God, Dorchester

Home