SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

A scan of community-based initiatives

Financial empowerment 

training for social service 

programs

1 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Message from 

Gail Hillebrand

Associate Director for 

Consumer Education 

and Engagement

The mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is to make markets for consumer 

financial products and services work for consumers by making rules more effective, by 

consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more 

control over their economic lives. Empowering consumers to take control of their financial lives 

and achieve their own life goals is a critical part of the Bureau’s mission. 

Consumers need four things to be financially empowered. First, consumers need consistent 

access and the ability to choose among high-quality financial services. Second, consumers need 

sufficient information about the costs, the benefits, and the risks, of choices in the marketplace. 

Third, consumers need a set of financial habits and skills that constitute financial capability to 

help them to make the financial decisions that benefit themselves and their families. Finally, 

consumers need to know that they can get a better shot at achieving their own life goals if they 

affirmatively seek information, make choices, and take steps to control their financial lives.

Consumers today are faced with increasingly complex financial decisions, many of which have 

long term consequences. When individuals don’t have enough knowledge and confidence to 

navigate the financial marketplace, it may be harder for them to avoid financial problems. For 

many consumers it is essential to have a trusted resource for financial information, education 

and help navigating the many steps toward financial empowerment. This is especially true for 

people who are economically vulnerable. 
2 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

The Office of Financial Empowerment is part of the Bureau’s Division of Consumer Education 

and Engagement. It has a specific focus on low-income and economically vulnerable consumers. 

The work of the Office of Financial Empowerment is guided by the Dodd-Frank Act mandate to 

provide “information, guidance, and technical assistance regarding the offering and provision of 

consumer financial products or services to traditionally underserved consumers and 

communities.”

The CFPB Office of Financial Empowerment recognizes that for some consumers, social service 

agencies serve as a trusted resource. Through our research and outreach, we have learned that

case managers and frontline staff at social service agencies do not always have the knowledge, 

skills and tools to support their clients in improving their financial lives. As a result we took on 

the challenge of developing and testing a new set of tools and training for staff and volunteers 

working to help empower economically vulnerable consumers. 

This report represents the results of our effort to learn what tools local service providers need to 

help their clients increase their financial capabilities. Through the field scan we contacted 

fourteen organizations that provide financial empowerment training to their case managers and 

frontline staff. We learned how programs have succeeded – or struggled – in providing training, 

tools, and resources to change case manager and client behavior. We conducted in-depth 

interviews of five organizations that represented diverse approaches to offering this type of 

training: Seattle-King County Asset Building Collaborative, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, 

Louisville Metro/Living Cities, The Financial Clinic, and the State of Minnesota. 

The information and recommendations set forth in this report were invaluable in guiding the 

Bureau’s work in creating a financial empowerment toolkit called Your Money, Your Goals. The 

toolkit is designed for training case management and frontline staff to help them gain the 

personal skills to be competent and comfortable in providing financial empowerment services to 

their clients.

In late 2013 we will be testing the effectiveness of Your Money, Your Goals with a diverse group 

of service providers. In 2014 we will share Your Money Your Goals broadly so that social 

service providers throughout the country can use this tool as they help their clients move toward 

greater financial stability and security. Our ultimate goal in this initiative is to bring reliable,

unbiased information and practical tools within reach of millions of low income consumers so 

they can put it to work. As they use these tools, they will build the financial capability that 

equips them to make informed decisions that help them to take control of their financial lives 

and reach their goals. 
3 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Table of contents

Message from Gail Hillebrand....................................................................................1

Executive summary.....................................................................................................4

1. Introduction...........................................................................................................8

2. Approach to the field scan...................................................................................9

3. Definitions ...........................................................................................................11

4. Findings from the field scan..............................................................................12

5. Transferability of the model to other locations................................................30

6. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................32

Appendix A: ...............................................................................................................33

Summaries of in-depth interviews..................................................................33

Appendix B:...............................................................................................................46

Effective practice criteria ................................................................................46

Appendix C:...............................................................................................................48

Case manager and financial education provider outcomes............................48

Appendix D:...............................................................................................................53

Additional programs interviewed for scan...................................................... 53
4 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Executive summary

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-203)

(“the Dodd-Frank Act” or “the Act”) established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 

(CFPB) to regulate the offering and provision of consumer products or services under federal 

consumer finance laws. The Dodd-Frank Act establishes that a function of the Bureau includes

“providing information, guidance, and technical assistance regarding the offering and provision 

of consumer financial products or services to traditionally underserved consumers and 

communities.”1 The Office of Financial Empowerment (Empowerment) within the CFPB is 

responsible for providing opportunities for low-income and economically vulnerable consumers

to improve their financial capability. 

Many economically vulnerable consumers benefit from connection to networks of public and 

nonprofit service providers to help address their immediate financial needs. For these 

consumers, frontline staff and case managers can be their link to programs, products and 

services that promote financial capability, such as financial education or coaching, safe and lowcost financial services, and free tax preparation services. What we have learned from the 

nonprofit provider community is that not all frontline staff have had the training and 

information they feel they need to offer financial empowerment services to their clients. 

In 2012, CFPB identified and interviewed a small number of organizations that offer training 

programs to equip case managers with a basic understanding of the components of financial 

empowerment. These components include the role of asset-building in stabilizing economically 

vulnerable households, the importance of informed money-management decisions, and the 

availability of affordable financial services that meet their clients’ needs. However promising 

 

1 12 U.S.C. § 5493(b)(2)
5 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

this type of training, it was clear from discussions with practitioners in the field that it is not 

widely available in the majority of communities. 

In fulfillment of the Bureau’s statutory obligation, and informed by strong encouragement from 

the social service field and initial assessments of case managers who had completed similar 

trainings, the Office of Financial Empowerment developed a financial empowerment training 

toolkit, called Your Money, Your Goals, for social services programs. The Office also developed 

training materials to help local trainers facilitate workshops to increase case managers’

understanding of financial empowerment principles and resources. 

The first step in creating the CFPB’s toolkit was to perform a broad scan of the field to identify

effective existing training programs and to document best practices. To accomplish this task, 

Financial Empowerment engaged ICF International to conduct the scan and to document its 

findings. 

This report summarizes the results of the national field scan, highlighting how programs that 

already train case managers have succeeded—or struggled—in their efforts to provide training, 

tools, and resources to change case manager and client behavior. The field scan, conducted 

from October through November 2012, included a high-level national inventory of organizations 

that are training case managers and other frontline staff in financial empowerment. The fieldscan included in-depth interviews at five organizations whose work was of special interest: 

Seattle-King County Asset Building Collaborative (SKCABC), United Way of Greater Cincinnati, 

Louisville Metro/Living Cities, The Financial Clinic, and the State of Minnesota. 

FINDINGS

The following findings represent themes that emerged from both the inventory and in-depth 

interviews of the field scan. 

 Finding 1: Case managers and financial educators have a common understanding of the 

financial issues and challenges facing clients notwithstanding differences in the context of 

service or geography. The financial issues and challenges most commonly cited include: 

credit, debt, budgeting, income, banking or using financial services, and asset-building.

 Finding 2: Case managers’ level of motivation to learn financial empowerment varies 

widely. Some case managers view their clients comprehensively and understand why, how, 

and where integration of financial empowerment may work; others may not. Also, some case 
6 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

managers have ongoing relationships with clients that provide many opportunities for 

integration of financial empowerment; others do not.

 Finding 3: Case managers’ lack of confidence regarding financial issues may be an 

obstacle to their integrating financial information into their work with clients, even 

following training. Lack of confidence was widely cited by case managers as the primary 

reason the information provided in training was not used with clients. 

 Finding 4: Case managers struggle with when and how to incorporate financial 

empowerment into their work with clients. The training provided to case managers and 

other frontline staff did not always answer one key question, which is: What do I do with this 

information now? Some programs responded by emphasizing referrals, while others created 

a tools-based approach.

 Finding 5: Some programs encourage case managers to start the financial education

discussion by learning first where the participant wants to start. In some cases, this is 

determined through a simple assessment tool or a discussion about the client’s goals. The 

assessment or information about goals provides a starting point for a discussion about their 

finances.

 Finding 6: Because clients’ financial issues vary broadly, some initiatives provide followup training, follow-up technical assistance, or a resource and referral network for case 

managers. Organizations in the field scan used a variety of innovative strategies to address 

the need for ongoing support to case managers following financial empowerment training.

 Finding 7: Even though the amount of training varied and many different curricula were 

used, the topics covered converged. Some of these topics included setting goals, budgeting, 

saving for goals, getting free tax preparation assistance, avoiding the use of high-cost, debtcreating products or services, identity theft, frauds, and scams.

 Finding 8: While some participatory training elements were incorporated into training, 

most were presentation-based. Several programs incorporated core principles of adult 

learning, which include participatory exercises, to improve retention of material delivered in 

the training.

 Finding 9: Most training initiatives targeted at case managers recommended some form 

of assessment of the effectiveness of the initiatives, but few tracked whether case managers 
7 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

were using this information with clients. One program, the Financial Clinic, reported 

tracking this information once training had been provided to case managers or other 

frontline staff.

 Finding 10: There were unanticipated benefits of training a large group of case managers 

and nonprofit staff in the same ways and using the same tools. One example was creating a 

common awareness and understanding of the financial challenges facing clients; another 

was developing support systems for the case managers, because they recognized that they 

were all “speaking the same language.” 

 Finding 11: Focused leadership and ongoing collaboration among partners can help to 

sustain and expand financial empowerment activities. For many programs, 

institutionalizing financial empowerment has been an intensely collaborative process. 

Formalized collaboration with public, private, and nonprofit partners has been important for 

the continuation and growth of financial empowerment activities.
8 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

1. Introduction

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Office of Financial Empowerment 

contracted with ICF International to develop a Financial Empowerment toolkit for social 

services organizations. The Your Money, Your Goals toolkit and training materials will provide 

a framework for training that supports the use of financial empowerment tools and techniques 

by case managers. This field scan report laid the groundwork for developing the toolkit by 

identifying how existing programs have succeeded—or struggled—in changing case manager and 

client behavior by providing training, tools, and resources. The report includes the following:

 Findings identified in a national inventory of programs that train case managers on 

financial empowerment, as well as in-depth interviews conducted with five 

organizations. The five participating organizations were Seattle-King County Asset 

Building Collaborative, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, Louisville Metro/Living Cities, 

The Financial Clinic, and the State of Minnesota, 

 Narratives from the in-depth interviews (Appendix A),

 Effective-practice criteria (Appendix B), 

 Case manager and financial education provider outcomes (Appendix C), and

 Additional programs interviewed for scan. 
9 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

2. Approach to the field scan

ICF began the qualitative field scan with an inventory of programs of interest, which identified 

and described programs and initiatives providing financial empowerment services to case 

managers and other frontline staff. The contractor used knowledge of the financial 

empowerment field as well as unstructured interviews with key informants to identify fourteen 

distinct efforts to train staff serving clients in a variety of organizational, situational, and 

cultural contexts. It then conducted informal and open-ended conversations with many of these 

organizations to learn more about their financial empowerment approaches. The types of 

information collected included outcomes and strategies used, target audiences served, posttraining expectations, and approaches to measuring results. The contractor provided an 

inventory of programs of interest which summarized the findings of its high-level review of 

programs in the field, recommended criteria for effective (best) practices, and recommended 

organizations to study in greater depth. Exhibit 1 lists the programs ultimately selected for indepth investigation.

EXHIBIT 1: PROGRAMS SELECTED FOR IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION

Program

United Way of Greater Cincinnati

 Focus on providing financial education to case 

managers and other non profit staff

 Working within the United Way context

Louisville Metro/Living Cities  Working with people experiencing homelessness

 Financial empowerment in a municipal context

Seattle/King County Asset Building 

Collaborative

 Providing training, referral resources, and 

opportunities for ongoing connections for anyone 

working with clients that have moderate or low 

income
10 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

State of Minnesota

 Financial-education coordination among state 

agencies, involving agency commissioners

 Financial education provided to hundreds of case 

managers and other nonprofit staff

The Financial Clinic

 Tools-based approach to financial empowerment

 Providing direct coaching services as well as 

capacity- building to case managers and other 

nonprofit staff

Other programs that gave input for this scan, in addition to the five programs that provided indepth interviews, include United Way of Silicon Valley, United Way of King County (Seattle), 

Head Start Pilot Projects in both Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, Four Bands Community 

Fund (Eagle Butte, S.D.), The Rise Foundation (Memphis, Tenn.), Hopelink (Bellevue, Wash.), 

United Way of Greater Chattanooga (Tenn.), Cities for Financial Empowerment (National 

Office), and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Financial Opportunity Center (See 

Appendix D). 

The contractor conducted the in-depth interviews as free-flowing conversations, using a highlevel discussion guide to keep conversations focused on topics of interest. To include a diversity 

of perspectives, the contractor interviewed a combination of financial-empowerment trainers, 

case managers, and other key individuals for each program. Notes from the interviews, as well 

as materials collected on each program or initiative, were summarized, analyzed, and organized 

into narrative profiles. 
11 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

3. Definitions

Within the field, there are various terms used to describe the work of helping people learn about 

and use financial information in a way that helps them reach their goals and achieve financial 

stability. Common terms include financial empowerment, financial education, financial literacy, 

financial fitness, financial development, and financial capability. While organizations 

advocating one term over another may have a specific definition to differentiate their term of 

choice from others in common use, financial empowerment is used throughout this document 

except when discussing a specific program’s work. In those instances, the respective 

organization’s preference is used to describe the work that they do.

The people receiving service are also referred to in many different ways in the field: participant, 

saver, asset-developer, customer, and client are commonly used. Throughout this report, we use 

the term client, which is the term most commonly used by case managers.

Case managers in this report are individuals who work with clients. A case manager is anyone 

who assesses, plans, coordinates, monitors, and evaluates options and services to help a client 

achieve his/her health, human service, and economic needs. Case managers work in nonprofit, 

public and for-profit organizations. While case managers are the primary target audience, the 

term frontline staff is used because some staff who work with clients regularly are not called 

case managers (and they may not self-identify as case managers) even though they provide the 

same function. 
12 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

4. Findings from the field scan

The following findings represent themes that emerged from both the inventory and in-depth 

interviews of the field scan. 

Finding 1: Case managers and financial educators have a 

common understanding of the financial issues and challenges 

facing clients, notwithstanding differences in the context of 

service or geography.

Based on the field scan, as well as the in-depth interviews, the contractor learned that the clients 

of case managers and other frontline staff – primarily of nonprofit, community-based 

organizations – vary broadly in terms of programmatic contexts and types of interactions with 

clients. Often, they were described through the lens of the service provided, such as: individuals 

who are chronically homeless; survivors of domestic violence; meal center guests; refugees and 

immigrants; Head Start parents; individuals served by workforce development programs; 

individuals in transitional or public housing; and young people in foster care. All of the clients 

were moderate to low-income and had limited assets.

ICF also examined programs that serve urban areas, suburban and rural areas, an individual

county, a multi-county region within a state, community members on an Indian reservation, an 

entire state, and various communities nationwide. 

While the service context and the geographic location of the organizations reviewed throughout 

the field scan varied, there was clear commonality in the financial issues that financial 

educators, case managers, and other front-line staff felt the clients most often experienced. 
13 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Exhibit 2 summarizes those common financial issues and challenges reported by several 

organizations.2 It should be noted that access to affordable housing was frequently cited by case 

managers as an issue that can be fundamental to long-term financial stability; however, training 

and solutions related to access to housing are beyond the scope of the CFPB financial 

empowerment training and as a result, are not included in this list.

EXHIBIT 2: COMMON FINANCIAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Financial topic Issues and challenges

Credit

Having no or poor credit history, or having credit issues 

that prevent employment or access to financial and other 

services

Debt

Having too much debt, not understanding their debt 

situation (garnishments, collections, or other debt creating 

judgments), having medical debt in particular, or 

unsustainable levels of debt

Budgeting Having too many expenses given level of income or not 

understanding their income and expense situation

Income Not having income, enough income, or job opportunities

Banking or use of financial services Using high-cost financial services because they are 

convenient or because clients are unbanked

Asset building

Having little to no understanding of assets, how assets 

help create a ladder out of poverty, and ways to build and 

protect assets sustainably

 

2 This listing encompasses input from financial-education providers and case managers from Seattle King County 

Asset Building Coalition, City of Louisville Service Experts Team members, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, 

United Way of Silicon Valley, Rise Foundation, various practitioners from the State of Minnesota, and The Financial 

Clinic. 
14 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

In most cases, an understanding of the client financial issues informed the financial-education 

content provided to the case managers, and the topics covered focused on the financial 

challenges clients most often face. 

Finding 2: Case managers’ level of motivation to learn 

financial empowerment varies widely

The motivation for acquiring financial empowerment skills varies widely among case managers.

Some case managers view their clients comprehensively and understand why, how, and where 

integration of financial education may work for their clients. They tend to be self-motivated to 

learn and have less difficulty translating financial education to their work. This tends to hold 

true for case mangers already engaged in programs that have a financial component:

transitional housing programs generally require clients to create a budget; transportation 

assistance programs require clients to budget as well as address credit issues; and financial 

education is an already-accepted practice for individual development account (IDA) programs.

Finally, for some case managers, their organization or funder requires them to track financial 

outcomes. Financial empowerment training becomes a means to help them fulfill this 

requirement.

Other case managers have different perspectives when it comes to financial empowerment for 

their clients including:

 “It’s not a part of my job.”

 “The funders are requiring this.”

 “I’m overwhelmed with my current job responsibilities and cannot hear this right now.”

 “I only have a short time with clients (or only meet with them one time) and I have a lot 

to do in that short time.”

 “I’m not doing a good job at managing my own finances. How can I help another?”

 “I’m willing, but I don’t know how and I need to learn more.”
15 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

There were generally three approaches used to get buy-in from case managers or nonprofit staff 

that did not have experience in financial education or did not work in a context that naturally 

included financial education concepts.

Approach 1: Involve organizational leadership.

Organizations that desired to offer financial empowerment training for case managers worked to 

increase buy-in from leadership of social services programs by: 

 Hosting financial empowerment information sessions for chief executive officers and 

supervisory staff explaining the benefits of offering or integrating financial 

empowerment work within their agencies and through their case managers or frontline 

staff.3 One organization even facilitated segments of the training for the CEOs and 

supervisors so they could experience the effectiveness of the training and the importance 

of the information.4

 Requiring the CEO’s signature on an application from any case manager or nonprofit

staff member wanting to participate in the training, in order to ensure that training 

participants will receive organizational support in integrating financial empowerment 

within their organization.5

 Charging for access to a financial development tool and requiring a contract that 

commits to payment for staff training and technical assistance.”6

These organizations got buy-in from case managers and other frontline staff by using the 

organizational leadership and existing power structure within the agency.

Approach 2: Address case-manager concerns explicitly in the training. 

Financial empowerment training begins with an invitation to case managers to share their 

concerns about implementing financial concepts and, in some cases, tracking financial outcomes 

 

3 Both United Way of Greater Cincinnati and RISE Foundation used this strategy.

4 The Rise Foundation.

5 United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

6 The Financial Clinic.
16 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

with clients.7 Then the training helps case managers understand financial empowerment 

outcomes and align their current program outcomes with those of financial empowerment. Case 

managers are shown how financial empowerment can help them help their clients more 

effectively.

Approach 3: Provide training only to those case managers that “get it.” 

United Way of Silicon Valley initially focuses its training efforts on staff members who already 

consider it important to incorporate financial empowerment into their work; it has not focused 

on engaging more reluctant staff. United Way hopes that as these staff members see their 

colleagues use financial education effectively in their own lives and with their respective clients,

they will “come around.”

Finally, case managers work in many situations: Some case managers see the same clients 

regularly (e.g., a vocational rehabilitation services case manager), while others may only have 

one opportunity to work with a client (e.g., staff at a meal center). Financial educators who have 

trained diverse groups of case managers recognize this and incorporate into their work examples 

of how case managers whose client contacts are of varying intensity and frequency can integrate 

financial education. 

United Way of Greater Cincinnati reported that their original effort did not sufficiently help case 

managers translate financial education to their work context or provide them with guidance on 

how to “start the conversation” with clients across the spectrum. To manage this, they have

begun segmenting case workers into three groups based on their levels of client contact:

 Level 1: Short-term client contact. This is generally a client addressing basic needs. 

 Level 2: Longer-term client contact. This is generally a client in a program that provides 

some kind of transitional service such as a shelter or workforce development program. 

 Level 3: Extended/focused client contact. This is generally a client involved in a longterm program such as an individual development account program.

 

7 To varying degrees this is done by United Way of Greater Cincinnati, Seattle King County Asset Building 

Collaborative and The Financial Clinic.
17 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Finding 3: Case managers’ lack of confidence on financial 

issues may be an obstacle to their integrating financial 

information into their work with clients, even after training. 

As one case manager described it, some case managers

feel “they have no right to provide financial education 

information when their own financial situations are not in 

order.” Case managers and other frontline staff who are 

asked to incorporate financial concepts into their work 

with clients may express the fear of not knowing enough, 

of telling someone the wrong thing, or instructing 

someone to do something they themselves are not 

practicing (the fear of being hypocritical). This was cited 

by all of the organizations interviewed as a core issue. Some sites structured their training to 

explicitly address this fear by using specific strategies to bolster case manager confidence while 

other sites discovered this through their work.

United Way of Silicon Valley, interviewed briefly during the field scan, developed its whole 

training program around two specific tools that the case managers and other nonprofit staff 

learn to use with their own financial information. To learn about how to get and read a credit 

report, they pull their own credit report through www.annualcreditreport.com and read it. To 

learn about credit scores, they order their educational credit scores generated by Credit Karma8

(www.creditkarma.com). Through this process, they learn specific strategies to improve their 

own credit histories, remediate errors, and increase their own scores. By applying the 

information to their own situations, they feel empowered and better able to pass this 

information on to their clients. The program’s creator/director explains it this way: “If you can 

understand your own situation more completely, you can help others.” 

The training that Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) provides through the Financial 

Opportunity Centers and the training that The Financial Clinic offers to its client organizations 

 

8 United Way of Silicon Valley makes it clear that the Credit Karma Scores (TransRisk, VantageScore, and Auto 

Insurance Score) are educational only and that the scores used by lenders will likely be different.

Promising Practice

The United Way of Silicon Valley 

trainees learn to use two tools by 

entering their personal 

information. This direct 

experience empowers them to 

more confidently pass 

information on to clients.
18 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

through its toolkit also use a similar approach: Where possible, participants in the training use 

their own financial information to learn about and apply new financial concepts.

United Way of Greater Cincinnati instead facilitates discussions about how concepts taught in 

the training relate to or could help their staff address 

their own financial problems. This organization also 

explicitly covers values and attitudes about money as a 

way to improve case manager and nonprofit staff 

confidence and capacity to provide financial education.

They also discovered that groups with experienced case 

managers and staff --such as those running individual 

development account (IDA) programs or from housing 

organizations -- did not struggle with confidence. On 

the other hand, those with little experience in assetbuilding or financial education generally were less 

confident about financial information.

Their first session begins with an experiential exercise designed to help the training participants 

uncover and understand the experiences, individuals, and institutions that shaped their values, 

beliefs, and attitudes about money. This exercise helps case managers and nonprofit staff better 

understand the roots of some of their own financial practices that may be unproductive, while 

recognizing that their clients may have different values, beliefs, and attitudes about money 

resulting from their life experiences. This realization both increases case manager and nonprofit 

staff confidence and decreases the tendency to be judgmental about themselves or their clients.

Finding 4: Case managers struggle with when and how to 

incorporate financial empowerment into work with clients.

Training for case managers and staff does not always answer one key question: What do I do 

with this information now?

Financial education or financial empowerment services can either be presented as an additional 

service to be offered to clients, or integrated seamlessly into the workflow and client interactions 

of existing case management services. While integrating financial education does lessen

common barriers experienced by stand-alone training or coaching programs— for example, 

promotion and recruitment of participants, transportation to sessions, or childcare—it requires 

Promising Practice

Recognizing that their clients may 

have different values, beliefs, and 

attitudes that result from their life 

experiences, the United Way of 

Greater Cincinnati provides 

experiential exercises to help case 

managers better understand 

people’s differing beliefs and 

attitudes about money.
19 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

significant planning by the organization and its staff. They must be able to figure out when to 

deliver what information to each client, which is more challenging than following a structured 

curriculum from session to session.

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati started the financial education training for case managers 

and nonprofit staff because so many organizations were trying to incorporate financial 

education as an “add- on” service. Those organizations were investing their time in marketing to

and recruiting participants for financial education classes only to become repeatedly frustrated 

that their work did not result in reaching expected attendance levels, and to discover that they 

were actually spending very little time actually delivering financial information to clients.

While integration is the goal for United Way of Greater Cincinnati and many of the other 

initiatives profiled for this report,9 case managers and frontline staff have not generally been 

given clear models for how, when and where to include financial information and education in 

the client transaction.10 This lack of a practical model, combined with lack of case manager 

confidence could be part of the reason some case managers do not translate financial education 

training to their own work.

Finding 5: Some programs encourage case managers to start 

the financial education discussion by learning where the 

participant wants to start.

Programs that were able to initiate the “financial empowerment conversation” used multiple 

approaches. Some used money-related components of their program screening or processes as a 

launching pad for further conversation about money.11 Others used discussion tools such as the 

following:

 

9 Louisville Metro, The Financial Clinic, State of Minnesota

10 The one potential exception to this is The Financial Clinic.

11 Case managers in Minnesota that work in transitional housing, emergency rental assistance, or car loan programs 

utilized this technique.
20 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 A “life-satisfaction wheel,” which asks participants to rank from one to ten their 

satisfaction with eight different areas of their lives. “Finance” is one of the eight areas,

and a ranking less than ten generally opens the door for a discussion about finances with 

the client.12 Also, financial issues often come up as clients describe their issues in the 

other seven life areas: personal/spiritual development, physical environment (home and 

workplace-based), career or business, family and friends (community), 

romance/intimacy, health/self-care, and social/fun.13

 A list of resources that are of potential interest to clients. Clients choose from the list 

those which most interest them. Many of the resources have a financial component, 

which allows the case manager to initiate the financial empowerment discussion.14

 The Family Service Plan for Head Start. This has several goals, including financial, 

toward which a family can work. When a Head Start parent lists the financial goal at the

beginning of the program year, the Family Services Specialist asks parents where they 

want to start.15

Other financial education initiatives favor a simple assessment tool to find out about a client’s 

goals or where a client may be struggling. The assessment provides a starting point for a 

discussion around finances.

Finding 6: Because clients’ financial issues vary broadly, some 

initiatives provide follow-up training, follow-up technical 

assistance, or a resource and referral network for case 

managers. 

 

12 This tool is used by Head Start Family Specialists in Minnesota and Massachusetts, as well as by LISC.

13 Laura Whitworth et al., Co-Active Coaching (1998)

14 State of Minnesota

15 Head Start in Massachusetts
21 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

While training can provide case managers with knowledge and tools that may increase their 

confidence in using this information with clients, issues may arise with clients that are beyond 

the capacity of the individual case manager.

Sites have managed this in several distinct ways:

 Provide a “hotline” that case managers can call to have their specific questions 

answered during set hours.16

 Provide an “ask a counselor” service on a website through which case managers can 

request information or ask specific questions. The questions, which are sent to state 

cooperative extension staff, are answered within forty-eight hours.17

 Provide follow-up technical assistance through contractual arrangements.18

 Provide opportunities for case managers and other front line staff to join a peer 

network and enroll in post-training workshops to continue the educational process.19 

The Seattle King County Asset Building Collaborative also has special-topic work groups, 

which study particular issues in depth. Currently, case managers and other frontline staff 

can join a Disability Initiative work group, a Medical Debt work group, and a Providing 

Services to Veterans work group.

 Provide a handbook that includes resources and referrals by topic. SKCABC modified 

Your Money Helpline created by the New York City Office of Financial Empowerment to 

make it specific to King County, Washington, while United Way of Greater Chattanooga 

 

16 United Way of Silicon Valley

17 State of Minnesota on the Help Minnesota Save website.

18 The Financial Clinic.

19 Seattle King County Asset Building Coalition, the State of Minnesota, The RISE Foundation, and The Financial 

Clinic.
22 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

developed a financial education resource guide to support staff answering 2-1-1 calls.20 

Staff members of 2-1-1 are trained to screen callers for potential financial issues and then 

refer them to the appropriate organization for additional or ongoing financial education, 

counseling, or coaching assistance.

 Provide a web-based portal where case managers and other nonprofit or frontline 

staff can access information and tools to increase their own capacity or to use with 

clients. Developing a web-based toolkit was part of the United Way of Greater 

Cincinnati’s original concept of providing training that is supplemented with ongoing 

access to online resources and tools. The State of Minnesota also has a website dedicated 

to providing resources for both clients and case managers.

 Provide clear links to referral sources as a part of the training process. Two sites in 

particular, SKCABC and United Way of Greater Cincinnati, have developed their 

empowerment training for case managers to refer clients for expert assistance with 

financial issues appropriately.

In the United Way of Greater Cincinnati case worker training, each of the four sessions 

includes information and exercises related to the topics outlined for the first half of the 

training. The second half of the training includes representatives from potential referral 

organizations who talk about the content covered as well as the services their 

organizations offer and when to refer a client to them. For example, the budgeting 

session includes traditional information and tools on budgeting and is then followed by 

presentations from programs whose mission includes providing financial education;

representatives from Bank-On Cincinnati; and representatives from Cincinnati Saves. 

This process was repeated for the sessions on financial services, credit and identity theft, 

scams, and frauds. 

 SKCABC holds one-day training sessions and includes a wide range of referral partners 

as part of the training; the partners participate in the training and provide presentations 

throughout the day linking their services to the content.

 

20 2-1-1 is a call-in clearinghouse commonly staffed 24 hours per day to connect people in need with food, 

housing, employment, health care, counseling, and other resources. These are often operated by United Way 

agencies on a city, county, or regional basis.
23 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Finding 7: Even though the amount of training varied and 

many different curricula were used, the topics covered 

converged. 

Exhibit 3 (page 26) summarizes the length of the training provided by some of the 

organizations, as well as the curriculum they used to train case workers or other frontline staff. 

The training ranged from four hours to thirty hours. There was little overlap in the curricula 

used except Money in Motion, which is used by two of the sites. Even with these differences in 

curricula, many of the topics covered were common:

 Setting goals

 Budgeting

 Saving for goals

 Automating savings; saving regularly

 Getting and reviewing credit reports; correcting inaccurate information

 Understanding credit scoring

 Using strategies for reducing or eliminating debt

 Filing for tax credits and planning the use of tax refunds

 Getting free tax preparation assistance from IRS-trained volunteers at VITA sites

 Using financial services (banks and credit unions) and managing checking accounts

 Avoiding the use of high cost, debt-creating products, or services

 Knowing where to get more help for debt management, credit building, budgeting, 

paying bills, and using financial products and services

 Identity theft, frauds, and scams.
24 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

There were a number of topics covered by only one or two organizations. These included:

 Keeping track of bills; setting up systems for paying bills on time

 Conducting debt validation

 Managing cash flow

 Saving for emergencies or unplanned expenses

 Psychology of money; values, attitudes, and beliefs about money

 Critical thinking

 Behavioral economics

 Vehicle and home purchase

 Career and education planning

 Risk management and insurance

 Investing basics and retirement planning

 Estate planning
25 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

EXHIBIT 3: LENGTH OF TRAINING AND CURRICULA USED

Organization Training length

Curricula Used in Training 

Case Managers or Other 

Frontline Staff

Seattle King County Asset 

Building Collaborative

1 day, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 

p.m. (4 hours of contact)

The Seattle King County Asset 

Building Collaborative

developed its own training 

using other resources. The 

training is delivered via 

PowerPoint presentation.

The State of Minnesota 4 two- to three-hour sessions 

(8 -12 hours of contact)

The State of Minnesota uses 

Four Cornerstones of Financial 

Literacy, a curriculum 

developed by a credit 

counselor in Minnesota and 

used by most practitioners in 

the state. (Over 1,400 case 

managers, nonprofit and other 

staff have been trained through 

Four Cornerstones.)

United Way of Greater 

Cincinnati

4 half-day trainings (16 hours 

of contact)

United Way of Greater 

Cincinnati uses the FDIC 

Money Smart curriculum,

modified it with some additional 

activities, and then added time 

with referral partners in each 

session.

Louisville Metro/Living Cities 5 two-hour trainings (10 hours 

of contact)

Louisville Metro/Living Cities 

contracts with Apprisen to 

provide its training using 

Money in Motion.

The Financial Clinic

2.5 to 3 days of training 

(depends on organizational 

contract); (15 to 18 hours of 

contact)

The Financial Clinic developed 

its own toolkit based on a scan 

of existing financial education 

materials. 
26 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Four Bands Community Fund 

(Eagle Butte, South Dakota)

3 four-hour sessions (12 hours 

of contact)

Four Bands uses three 

curricula in its training: Credit 

Where Credit is Due, Money in 

Motion and Making Waves, its 

own curriculum.

RISE Foundation 3 two-hour sessions (6 hours of 

contact)

RISE developed its own 

curriculum called Common 

Cents.

LISC in Financial Opportunity 

Center Communities

5 days (up to 30 hours of 

contact)

LISC contracts with Central 

New Mexico Community 

College to provide its Financial 

Coaching Training.

Finding 8: While some participatory training elements were 

incorporated into training, most were presentation-based.

The materials and the information gleaned from the in-depth interviews indicated that some 

participatory techniques are included within most training sessions. This is an important feature 

as it reflects the core principles of adult learning; it is likely to improve retention of material 

delivered in the training. The trainings appear to be presentation-led and include some 

application of information within the training context. This is especially true for those programs 

that take a tools-based approach to the training or have the case managers and other training 

participants learn through applying concepts to their own personal situations.

Other approaches used include facilitated discussion, case studies and some role-playing, as well 

as guest speakers. (Guest speakers are used by the two sites that invite referral partners,

SKCABC and United Way of Greater Cincinnati.).
27 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Finding 9: Most training initiatives targeted at case managers 

recommended some sort of assessment of the effectiveness of 

the initiatives, but few tracked whether case managers were 

using this information with clients. 

It was difficult to ascertain through the interview process the extent to which programs were 

actually implementing their evaluation plans. Of all the programs reviewed or for which 

interviews were conducted, only two were able to provide actual evaluation reports: FAIM in 

Minnesota and United Way of Greater Cincinnati. The FAIM evaluation focused on financial 

literacy in the context of an IDA program. The United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s evaluation 

examined the following outcomes among the case managers and nonprofit staff that had 

attended its training program:

 Improved financial education resources

 Increased staff knowledge of resources

 Improved agency capacity to provide financial education services

 Ability to better serve clients

 Overall satisfaction with training

Those who participated in the project ranked themselves using Likert scales21 or by answering 

yes or no to the following statements:

 The training received by our staff through this pilot project was valuable to our agency.

 Participation in this project improved the quality of financial education resources our 

agency is able to offer to our clients.

 

21A Likert Scale typically measures strength or intensity of opinion or preference (An example is a five point scale 

such as strongly agree, agree, no opinion, disagree, strongly disagree)
28 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 As a result of this project our staff knows where to obtain quality financial education 

teaching materials.

 We were able to improve our program and services because of the training and resources 

received through this pilot project.

 Participating in this project increased our agency's internal capacity to provide financial 

education to our clients.

 Would your agency consider utilizing an outside resource (such as community banker, 

etc.) to provide financial education to your clients?

Neither the State of Minnesota nor United Way of Greater Cincinnati were measuring whether 

case managers and other nonprofit staff were using the information once trained. Only The 

Financial Clinic reported tracking this information once training had been provided to case 

managers or other frontline staff.

Finding 10: There were unanticipated benefits of training a 

large group of case managers and nonprofit staff in the same 

ways and using the same tools.

At three sites in particular – the State of Minnesota, Louisville Metro/Living Cities, and the 

greater Chattanooga area – large numbers of individuals were trained using the same financial 

education or empowerment curriculum and the same tools. Four identified benefits resulted 

from this approach and the potential exists for additional systemic benefits in the future. 

 There was a common awareness and understanding of the financial challenges facing 

clients of case managers and other frontline staff, and a common understanding of how 

to address some of these problems using the financial information, tools, and referral 

resources provided in the training.

 Clients with low incomes, including clients who were homeless, were given information 

effectively with “one voice” as they accessed different services or “shopped around” for 

financial and other consumer services.
29 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 A common approach created a community support system for the case managers,

because they were all “speaking the same language” when discussing financial concepts 

and financial empowerment outcomes for their clients.

 When communities develop a common practice of providing financial education to case 

workers and front line staff, it may be easier to make the case to state agency leaders and 

government officials. This bottom-up approach can promote collaboration among 

community stakeholders, government officials and policymakers, as demonstrated in 

Minnesota where ten state commissioners are working together to integrate financial 

empowerment throughout their respective agencies.

Increasing market-penetration with financial education content and tools could create systemic

change and a greater overall awareness of the significance of financial empowerment to many 

aspects of community members’ lives, irrespective of income levels.

This approach also has the potential to provide a solid foundation for assessment and 

evaluation: If all providers are working toward the same general financial empowerment 

outcomes, assessment and evaluation efforts can be more easily aggregated to demonstrate 

impact among a variety of target populations and segments, much as the IDA field did a decade 

ago.

Finding 11: Focused leadership and ongoing collaboration 

among partners can help sustain and expand financial 

empowerment activities.

For many programs studied as part of the field scan, institutionalizing financial empowerment 

has been an intensely collaborative process. Formalized collaboration among partner 

organizations and agencies has been important for the continuation and growth of financial 

empowerment activities. For example, Louisville Metro’s Department of Community 

Development coordinates a working group of case workers from thirteen homeless services and 

housing agencies along with municipal and nonprofit leaders. This has led to common 

assessment tools, common financial empowerment activities, and common measures. 

Minnesota’s governor and the commissioners of ten of its state agencies are conducting a scan of 

current financial education efforts and promoting sustained efforts to increase the financial 

capability of the state’s residents.
30 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

5. Transferability of the model 

to other locations

All of the programs examined as part of the field scan were reviewed for transferability. 

The purpose was to assess: 

 Whether the approach can be used in another geographic location 

 Whether it can be used with a different target audience 

 Whether the same kind of outcomes can be expected if the geographic location and 

clients are different.

Based on the review of all of the models, there are five promising approaches that are 

highly replicable.

 Train all case managers and nonprofit staff using the same financial 

empowerment curriculum. As noted in the Findings section, this provides a 

common base of knowledge among the case managers and nonprofit staff. This 

commonality facilitates networking among the individuals trained. A common 

curriculum also provides a foundation for common assessment (changes in knowledge, 

attitudes, behaviors, skills, and economic condition) and evaluation. This was most 

clearly demonstrated by the state of Minnesota (which used Four Cornerstones of 

Financial Literacy) and Louisville Metro/Living Cities.

 Use a tools-based financial empowerment curriculum. Using tools, instead of 

simply disseminating information, is important because it helps case managers and 

clients translate knowledge and concepts to their own lives. This approach was used by 

The Financial Clinic and United Way of Silicon Valley.
31 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 Build flexibility into case managers’ use of financial empowerment 

information and tools with clients. This enables case managers and frontline staff 

to match content to a client’s goal or most pressing financial issue and then present other 

content or tools as they are needed. This approach was most clearly used by The 

Financial Clinic.

 Focus the training on helping case managers address their own financial 

issues. Most of the organizations interviewed recognized this was central to gaining 

case manager buy-in, as well as increasing their personal financial competence and 

confidence. United Way of Silicon Valley, LISC, and The Financial Clinic strongly 

emphasized using participants’ personal financial information in the context of training. 

The State of Minnesota, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, and SKCABC recognized this 

was important, and they facilitated discussions and other activities relating to personal 

financial issues in the context of the training. While this approach is transferable, access 

to personal information may be limited in some communities because of the direct costs 

associated with acquiring it (e.g. FICO scores) or because there is limited access to 

technology. 

 Ensure the materials work with culturally diverse audiences as well as those 

with limited literacy levels. Several of the organizations studied worked to ensure 

materials were culturally relevant across age, ethnic, urban/rural, and other 

characteristics of participants. However, fewer focused on the need for ensuring 

materials are literacy-level appropriate. Both aspects are central to making the content 

accessible for clients and the model transferable. SKCABC most clearly articulated this 

aspect of the model.
32 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

6. Conclusion

The findings and best practices identified through this scan, along with additional input from 

participants, expanded the breadth and depth of background information that has helped shape 

the design and development of CFPB’s Your Money, Your Goals: A Financial Empowerment 

Toolkit for Social Services Programs. The CFPB is currently field-testing the toolkit to 

determine its effectiveness in enhancing the financial empowerment capabilities of case 

managers and frontline staff. This process will help ensure that its information and tools 

become a practical and valuable resource for social services staff and the low-income consumers 

they serve.
33 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

APPENDIX A:

Summaries of in-depth 

interviews

The Financial Clinic

SITE OVERVIEW

The Financial Clinic is a nonprofit organization based in New York City which focuses on 

helping low-income individuals and their families “build financial security” through specific 

financial development services. 22 It serves clients directly and through partnerships with other 

organizations in the greater New York City area. It also provides business-to-business capacity 

building services to public sector, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations throughout the U.S. 

FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT WORK

The Financial Clinic provides on-site financial coaching at Single Stop Sites, Financial 

Empowerment Centers, and community tax sites throughout the five boroughs of New York City 

and New Jersey. It has created a toolkit that covers five topic areas:

 Assets – emphasize consistent savings and increasing income by getting employer-based 

and public benefits.

 Banking – helps clients access low-cost financial services. 

 

22 The Financial Clinic used the term “financial development” instead of “financial education,” “financial capability,” 

or “financial empowerment.”
34 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 Credit – focuses on building a positive credit history and improving credit scores by 

remediating errors or negative information on credit reports.

 Debt – helps clients reduce their debt by developing actionable plans and advocating to 

creditors on behalf of their clients.

 Taxes – helps clients plan for and file taxes and productively use their tax refunds 

including tax credits for which they may be eligible. 

This five-topic framework is also used with clients in the financial coaching process and forms 

the basis for the training provided to case managers and other frontline staff.

The Financial Clinic uses financial coaching, a relationship designed to last between three 

months and a year, to help ensure clients are supported in their own decision-making through 

focused processes that include examinations of their own finances. The Toolkit provides specific 

protocols for coaches to use with clients as they address assets, banking, credit, debt and taxes 

with each client to achieve the client’s goals and financial security.

The Financial Clinic has a proprietary and detailed outcomes-based tracking system they have 

retooled and are making available to other organizations through a fee-based membership 

structure. Called “The Change Machine,” this online system tracks over eighty measures related 

to financial development. Among the measures tracked are consistent savings (measured by 

three successive automatic deposits), changes in credit scores, changes in debt levels, and 

whether of a portion of the tax refund is used by a client to reach his/her financial goals. 

KEY FINDINGS WITH MODEL

Discussions with staff and review of materials affirmed the importance of three specific 

concepts:

 Use of an outcomes-based framework, which facilitates content focus and provides a 

foundation for assessment and evaluation. 

 Use of a tools-based approach for the development, organization, and delivery of the 

content, which allows those being trained to translate information to actions. 

 That financial empowerment must take place in a “judgment-free zone.” 

Unlike other programs, The Financial Clinic does not emphasize referrals or resources beyond 

its toolkit, which specifically focuses on the five core topic areas defined by the organization as 
35 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

the five pillars of financial security: assets, banking, credit, debt, and taxes. The Financial Clinic 

also strategically works with networks that have a broader reach than any single agency. For 

example, in partnership with United Way of New York and the Human Resources 

Administration, The Financial Clinic developed customized tools and training for case managers 

and other frontline staff members in the domestic violence shelter system to help them 

understand how financial empowerment works to support an individual’s ability to build 

confidence, regain control, and establish financial security.

Through their toolkit, which is disseminated outside of the greater New York City area via 

business-to-business contracts, they provide a standardized training and robust set of measures 

that focus on use of financial knowledge.

Finally, The Financial Clinic maps the connection of financial knowledge with financial actions 

and transactions in a step-by-step approach outlined in their toolkit.

United Way of Greater Cincinnati

SITE OVERVIEW

United Way of Greater Cincinnati provides services to a ten-county, three-state region, which 

includes communities in southwestern Ohio, southeastern Indiana, and northern Kentucky. 

This organization focuses its work in three core areas:

 Education – ensuring children are prepared for kindergarten and that youth succeed in 

school and life.

 Health – ensuring people have access to ways to improve their health and enhance their 

independence.

 Income – helping families achieve financial stability.

United Way of Greater Cincinnati seeks to bring about these changes by engaging directly in 

“community impact” work, raising money to support other organizations working to bring about 

results in its three areas of focus.

FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT WORK

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati provides financial education training for case managers of 

community-based organizations that offer employment, housing, financial education, workforce 
36 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

training, child care, and emergency (food and shelter) services throughout the Greater 

Cincinnati area. The goal is to increase case managers’ comfort with financial management tools 

and terms enabling them to deliver financial information more easily to the people they serve.

United Way of Greater Cincinnati provides case managers and other nonprofit staff members 

with:

 A four-session, 12-hour training using the FDIC Money Smart curriculum augmented 

with “psychology of money” exercises and content, as well as information about identity 

theft, fraud, and scams.

 An introduction to local financial empowerment resources so case managers and other 

frontline staff members are able to refer their clients for additional or more in-depth 

financial management assistance appropriately.

 An online toolkit, developed in partnership with the University of Cincinnati Economic 

Center, for case managers and other frontline staff members to access following the

training.

United Way of Greater Cincinnati expects that case managers and other frontline staff receiving 

the training will:

 Increase their knowledge of financial concepts (budgeting, savings, and credit repair).

 Feel more confident in their ability to make financial decisions.

 Increase their knowledge of how to improve credit rating/scores.

 Establish financial budgets.

 Maintain a budget (pay bills on time).

 Increase their confidence in sharing financial education and resources with clients.

IMPORTANT FINDINGS WITH MODEL

A review of their materials and an interview with United Way of Greater Cincinnati staff 

identified the following key findings related to this model:
37 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 To help ensure case manager and frontline staff buy-in, United Way of Greater 

Cincinnati hosts information sessions for organizations’ CEOs and supervisors. To

ensure that organizations are committed to integrating financial empowerment into their 

existing work, they also require CEO signatures on applications for staff who participate 

in the financial education training.

 After doing an assessment, they discovered that vast differences in skills, motivations, 

and knowledge that nonprofit staff and case managers bring to financial education work. 

They then decided to focus on both knowledge and local resources and redesigned the 

training to provide financial education content and tools along with an introduction to 

referral resources related to the topics covered in the session. This formula was used in 

each session. For example, the budgeting session now includes information and tools on 

budgeting plus presentations from financial education programs, representatives from 

Bank On Cincinnati, and representatives from Cincinnati Saves. This was also done for 

the sessions that focused on financial services, credit, identity theft, financial scams, and 

fraud.

 After conducting the first round of training, United Way of Greater Cincinnati added 

activities and content that address values and attitudes about money as a way to improve 

case manager and nonprofit staff confidence and capacity to provide financial education. 

This exercise helps case managers and nonprofit staff better understand the root causes 

of some of their own financial practices and to understand that their clients may have 

different values, beliefs, and attitudes about money as a result of their life experiences. 

These activities increase case manager and nonprofit staff confidence, and decrease the 

tendency to be “judgmental” about themselves or their clients in terms of financial 

behaviors and practices.

 They also discovered that groups with experienced case managers and staff (individuals 

running IDA programs or from housing organizations) did not struggle with confidence.

Those with little experience in asset building or financial education generally lacked 

confidence about financial matters.

United Way of Greater Cincinnati partnered with the University of Cincinnati Economics Center 

to design, administer, and analyze pre- and post-training competence. They have not yet 

tracked whether case managers are actually using the information and tools provided in the 

training with their clients, but plan to conduct follow-up surveys to learn more about confidence 

and use of financial information and tools by case managers and other nonprofit staff members. 
38 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

In considering its program, United Way of Greater Cincinnati staff felt that the training did not 

do enough to help case managers translate financial information and tools to their respective 

work contexts or provide case managers with enough guidance on how to “start the financial 

conversation” with clients. This is something they plan to address in future trainings.

Seattle-King County Asset-Building 

Collaborative 

SITE OVERVIEW

The Seattle-King County Asset-Building Collaborative (SKCABC) is a coalition of over 80 public, 

private and nonprofit organizations based in Seattle, Washington, and serving all of King 

County.

SKCABC focuses on connecting the organizations within the collaborative to build a “system of 

high-quality, accessible financial empowerment services and interconnected networks to deliver 

these services throughout King County.” The Collaborative focuses on providing access to 

affordable, mainstream banking; financial planning, education, and coaching; credit and debt 

counseling; free tax preparation; access to public benefits; microenterprise development; and 

homeownership and foreclosure prevention resources.

FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT WORK

In addition to referring individuals and organizations to financial education providers 

throughout King County, SKCABC provides training directly to anyone working with individuals 

and households that have low- to moderate-income. This is a broad audience, but includes 

primarily case managers and staff from a wide range of nonprofit service providers, as well as 

individuals from workforce development programs, the City of Seattle, and increasingly, medical 

professionals (e.g., mental health case managers).

The training is four hours long and covers:

 An introduction to SKCABC

 Introduction and rationale for the “learn, earn, save/invest, and protect” framework 

 How to refer clients to services within the collaborative network
39 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 Concentrated information on credit and debt issues

SKCABC uses small-group work, case studies, presentations, a question and answer session with 

credit counseling agencies, and storytelling during the training to convey financial 

empowerment information to the case managers and other nonprofit staff. The goals of the 

financial empowerment training are to increase case manager buy-in that financial 

empowerment and asset building are important, to help them start related conversations with 

their clients, and to encourage them to refer their clients to community-based resources. 

Representatives from resource and referral organizations participate and make presentations to 

encourage case managers to make referrals. The training is not designed to ensure case 

managers can solve clients’ financial problems, but to help case managers have the right tools, 

information, and resources to give the clients a “nudge in the right direction.”

Finally, all training participants are provided with a copy of Your Money Helpline, a topicallyorganized referral guide based on a tool designed by the New York City Office of Financial 

Empowerment.

IMPORTANT FINDINGS WITH MODEL

The following findings from this model were identified:

 The financial empowerment training must be participatory and include multiple ways to 

learn key information. Within the SKCABC training, two approaches stood out in 

particular: a) the participation of credit counseling agencies in a world café style rotation 

providing all case managers with the opportunity to meet with each agency and b) 

inclusion of resource and referral organizations in the training as both participants and 

presenters.

 There are opportunities for case managers and other nonprofit staff to continue their 

personal development by joining the Financial Education Partners Network. This group 

meets monthly and provides new content, as well as the opportunities to learn from other 

network members. The Network is one way for case managers to stay connected to 

ongoing financial empowerment work.

 There are opportunities to learn more about the “culture of money.” In 2012 SKCABC 

held a panel discussion on different cultural mores and values around money and 

financial issues. The attendance far exceeded the organization’s expectations, and they 

plan to provide additional opportunities to explore this topic further.
40 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 The learn, earn, save/invest and protect framework used for the training is easy to 

remember and provides a natural continuum for organizing services for individual clients 

as well as for referral partners within a community.

 The training addresses income as well as other financial topics including credit and debt. 

SKCABC identified income—not having it or not having enough income to make ends 

meet—as the primary issue for most people. 

SKCABC only conducts training evaluations with a retrospective pre-test following the training. 

They have not yet tracked whether case managers are actually using the information and tools 

provided in the training. 

The Money Talks Initiative Louisville Metro / 

Living Cities

SITE OVERVIEW

Working through nineteen social services providers, Louisville Metro is implementing an array 

of financial empowerment activities that lead to financial stability with individuals and families

who are currently homeless. These activities include training on banking, credit, and debt. The 

Money Talks Initiative works with case workers from partner agencies, as well as other 

municipal and nonprofit leaders to develop a city-wide financial empowerment framework with 

implementation strategies and measures. The goal is to create an operational shift from 

continuously providing basic needs services to increasing long-term financial and housing 

stability. The Money Talks Initiative is funded by an eighteen-month grant from Living Cities 

and is housed under the Louisville Metro’s Department of Community Services and 

Revitalization (CSR).

FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT WORK

Beginning in January, 2012, 23 social services agencies that provide homeless and housing 

services funded by the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), the Emergency Services 

Grant (ESG) and other public and private sources were targeted to participate in the Money 

Talks Initiative. Case workers that work directly with individuals and families who are 

homeless receive training on personal finance topics to increase their financial knowledge. After 
41 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

the training, case workers are expected to use the knowledge and tools provided in the training 

with their clients, and to report data on specific measures to their agency management.

The Louisville affiliate of Apprisen, a nonprofit consumer credit counseling agency, conducts the 

training using Money in Motion23, which is delivered through five separate two-hour sessions. 

The sessions include:

 Money Management Basics

 Budgeting Basics

 Credit Basics

 Checking and Savings Accounts

 Avoiding Identity Theft

The training includes worksheets for caseworkers to use with their clients. These worksheets 

include:

 How to Save Money

 Personalized Cash Flows

 Periodic Expenses

 The Cost of Living: Monthly Income and Expenses

In addition to the financial empowerment training provided to case managers, Louisville Metro 

is working to create a system-level financial empowerment framework that connects financial 

and housing stability. Using common language and common protocols, they are hoping to 

create city-wide impact moving people from homelessness to being housed and financially 

stable. 

 

23 A financial education curriculum developed by the American Center for Credit Education.
42 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

IMPORTANT FINDINGS WITH MODEL

Through interviews with case managers from two different homeless service providers trained 

through the Money Talks Initiative and involved in creating the systems-level financial 

empowerment framework, we learned that the training had helped them work on budgeting 

with their clients. Both interviewees, however, expressed an initial lack of confidence in working 

on other financial issues with clients when their own finances were “such a mess.” However, 

they stressed that as they kept applying what they learned from the training, they felt their 

confidence increase.

Case workers also reported that they:

 Use some of the worksheets provided in the training, such as the Cost of Living: Income 

and Expenses worksheet.

 Want more training on human behaviors in relation to money to understand the 

reasoning behind some of the financial actions of clients. They want to understand why 

some clients spend money on “things that aren’t basic needs.”

 Find that credit and debt, budgeting, and banking are the highest priority areas for their 

clients.

 Refer clients to credit counselors for more intensive credit counseling.

 Agree that case workers need financial education training before they work with clients.

 Have good referrals for credit counseling and public benefits, but not for free tax 

preparation assistance. 

 Like being in a cohort with other case workers, who meet regularly, to strengthen their 

own direct work with clients.
43 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

State of Minnesota

SITE OVERVIEW

Since 2004, a statewide financial literacy initiative has trained more than 1,400 case managers 

and other frontline staff using a financial literacy curriculum entitled Four Cornerstones of 

Financial Literacy. 

In January 2012, the Minnesota Financial Literacy Interagency Work Group was formed to 

bring together ten state agencies that have existing programs, outreach efforts, or policy 

interests in financial literacy. The Work Group includes commissioners from the Departments of 

Commerce, Corrections, Education, Employment and Economic Development, Housing 

Finance, Human Rights, Military Affairs, Human Services, Revenue, and the Office of Higher 

Education.

The Interagency Work Group strives to achieve two goals:

 Increase communication and collaboration across the administration in order to 

improve and expand existing financial literacy programs, and

 Identify new ways an administration-wide partnership may help ensure 

Minnesotans from kindergarten to retirement have the skills, knowledge, and 

resources they need to achieve financial security.

To achieve these goals, the Interagency Work Group has plans to create a clearinghouse for 

financial literacy information, programs, and curricula; improve outreach to underserved 

populations such a senior citizens and youth; and encourage participation of both state 

employees and financial institutions in financial literacy work.

FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT WORK

Four Cornerstones of Financial Literacy was originally developed to help Minnesota IDA 

programs provide financial literacy to their participants. The curriculum’s four “corners” (and 

sessions) are:

 Budgeting to Create Savings

 Debt Reduction and Asset Building
44 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 Building a Good Credit Rating

 Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions

This curriculum has been taught all over Minnesota in both urban and rural communities, with 

Native American communities and to people who speak Spanish, Hmong, and Somali, in 

addition to English. The curriculum is available at www.helpmnsave.com in all of the above 

languages so case managers and others can access the materials at any time. The website 

includes an “Ask a Financial Counselor” function through which questions are answered by 

extension educators from the University of Minnesota.

IMPORTANT FINDINGS WITH MODEL

Through interviews with case managers from Head Start, transitional housing, and car loan 

programs throughout Minnesota including the small cities of St. Cloud, Fergus Falls, and 

Marshall, we learned the following:

 A strength of Four Cornerstones of Financial Literacy is that it builds upon trusted 

advisor relationships by training case managers and other frontline staff. This makes the 

model distinct from approaches that rely on outside financial experts who may have little

experience with the realities of low-income people and may struggle to customize 

information and training techniques for this population.

 While the curriculum has been delivered widely within the state and is highly regarded 

by many who complete the training, the State of Minnesota has not studied how the 

training is being used by case managers.

 Head Start Programs use the “Child Plus” data tool. All activities are documented in case 

notes, but there is no mechanism for culling the financial literacy work done with 

individuals and families from these notes. One Head Start Program conducts a follow-up 

interview after three months to see if parents who have received some financial literacy 

services are using high-cost financial services/products. 

 Staff have learned different ways to “initiate the financial discussion,” including using a 

life satisfaction wheel exercise and reviewing with clients the financial information that 

they supplied on their intake forms. 
45 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 There is high turnover among case managers and other frontline staff, which means that 

there is an ongoing need for additional training sessions. Access to ongoing resources is 

critical to the ability to continue to deliver them.
46 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

APPENDIX B:

Effective practice criteria

The following criteria were identified to establish whether a given program feature should be 

considered an effective practice for potential adaptation for the financial empowerment training 

and toolkit:

 Case managers are provided with useful information they can immediately use with 

clients.

 Case managers receive training in ways that are engaging and reflective of the principles 

of adult learning.

 Case managers are provided direct training on ways to use information with clients.

 The training specifically and explicitly addresses case managers’ confidence in bringing 

up the “financial discussion” with clients.

 In the training, case managers are provided with tools (fact sheets, work sheets, online 

worksheets, games, props, and links) to support their work with clients.

 Case manager confidence in using the financial information and tools and passing it on 

to others (their clients) is specifically addressed in the training.

 Case managers are trained to make appropriate referrals or are provided with access to a 

referral resource such as a person with greater expertise, handouts, or online tools and 

databases.

 Case managers have the opportunities to provide feedback on the training.

 Case managers are given a pre- and post-training assessment.
47 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

 Case managers have a simple system to track the time and content they are passing on to 

clients.

 Financial educators or case managers can track outcomes related to financial 

empowerment that is integrated into case management services.

 Where the information is not being shared with clients, case managers (or the financial 

education providers) understand through interviews, focus groups or some other 

empirical method the reasons case managers are not using the information with clients.

 Case managers are enrolling in training because their executives or supervisors have 

directed them or expect them to do so.

 Executives or supervisors have incorporated financial education performance objectives 

as part of the review process for case managers.

 The model used is flexible (meaning it can be adapted for different situations, target 

populations or communities).

 The model used is replicable in less resource-intensive environments such as smaller or

rural communities.
48 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

APPENDIX C:

Case manager and financial 

education provider outcomes

Outcomes are changes or benefits to the target audience as a result of the strategies/activities. 

Case manager outcomes

SHORT-TERM

Case managers may experience:

Increased awareness of the ways in which the outcomes of financial empowerment training 

align with their own program outcomes.

Increased confidence in their own knowledge about core financial management topics: 

 Getting and managing income

 Using a budget or managing cash flow

 Managing debt and debt collections

 Improving credit reports and scores

 Paying bills on time

 For those who qualify, using public benefits and other resources to improve cash flow

 Saving for emergencies and long term goals

 Filing for tax credits and using tax refunds to eliminate debt, save and build assets

 Using appropriate financial institutions, products and services to manage income 

and expenses

 Building assets beyond savings

 Knowing some basic consumer protection laws and the agency framework designed 

to protect individuals from concentrated powers of business and financial services
49 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Increased ability to provide the right financial information at the right time in the context of 

their case work with clients.

Increased ability to use specific tools to help clients reach their own goals in different 

cultural and situational contexts.

Increased ability to understand the reasons people make financial decisions from a values, 

beliefs, and attitudes perspective as well as from a behavioral economics perspective.

Increased ability to make appropriate and specific referrals to help clients manage their 

financial challenges.

INTERMEDIATE

As a result of their work with case managers, clients may know:

 One new strategy for reducing or eliminating debt

 The process for conducting debt validation and verification

 One new system for keeping track of bills and paying bills on time

 One new way to project cash flow and anticipate where they may be short on cash or 

other resources as well as strategies for managing cash shortfalls

 The reason to explore whether they are eligible for benefits

 At least one website or agency where they can be screened for benefits

 The reason for saving $500 to $1,000 in an emergency savings account

 At least one bank and one nonbank option for the emergency savings fund that is safe 

and secure

 At least one strategy for automating saving or regularly finding money to save

 One resource for getting taxes prepared for free

 At least one reason for planning the use of the tax refund

 Identify financial products that will help them improve their money management 

efficiency and decrease their costs

 Where to get more help for debt management, credit building, budgeting, paying 

bills, and using financial products and services

 How to access resources on the CFPB website

 How to submit a complaint to the CFPB

 Increased confidence in managing finances
50 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

LONG-TERM

 Improvements in economic conditions (both case managers and clients):

 Increase in income

 Decrease in debt-to- income ratio

 Decrease in expense-to- income ratio

 Increase in credit scores

 Decrease in income spent on late fees or other fines related to late bill payments

 There is a potential for decrease in use of agency services

 Decrease in use of debt to close monthly income gap (income and expenses balance 

from week to week)

 $500 to $1,000 in emergency savings

 Increase in use of community resources to help with financial issues (as a result of 

appropriate and specific referrals)

 Decrease in stress resulting from financial instability (their own and for their clients)

 Increase in goal attainment (their own and for their clients)

 As financial stability increases there is a potential for decrease in clients’ use of 

agency services.
51 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Financial education provider outcomes

IMMEDIATE

Increased understanding of the barriers and challenges case managers face in providing 

financial education to clients as well as the opportunities.

Increased understanding of the context in which case managers provide financial 

education.

Increased ability to provide relevant and specific training to case managers that:

 Improves their confidence in talking about financial issues with clients.

 Increases their basic financial knowledge.

 Increases their ability to use specific tools with clients and within different cultural 

and situational contexts.

 Increases their ability to provide the right financial content at the right time with 

clients.

 Increases their ability to make appropriate and specific referrals, and

 Increases their ability to use the resources of the CFPB.

INTERMEDIATE

Case managers receiving the training will have:

Increased confidence in their own knowledge about core financial management topics:

 Managing debt and debt collections

 Improving credit reports and scores

 Paying bills on time

 Managing cash flow

 Using public benefits and other resources to improve cash flow

 Saving for emergencies and long term goals

 Using tax refunds to eliminate debt, to save and to build assets

 Using appropriate financial products and services to manage income and expenses
52 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

Increased ability to identify financial education teachable moments in the context of their 

case work with clients.

Increased ability to make appropriate and specific referrals to help clients manage their 

financial challenges.
53 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

APPENDIX D:

Additional programs 

interviewed for scan

Cities for Financial Empowerment (National) is a multi-city initiative that brings 

together pioneering municipal governments from across the country that have begun to use 

their power and positions to advance innovative financial empowerment initiatives.

Four Bands Community Fund (Eagle Butte, S.D.) serves tribal members and provides 

training for community-based organization staff and helps community partners integrate 

financial education into the services they provide.

Headstart Pilot Project (Massachusetts) pioneered a cross-generational approach to 

financial education by introducing children to fundamental and age-appropriate financial 

concepts in the classroom, while their parents participated in financial education sessions in the 

morning or early evening.

Headstart Pilot Project (State of Pennsylvania) targets financial empowerment training

to teachers, home visitors and family service coordinators who work with parents to develop 

Family Service Development Plans. 

Hopelink (Bellevue, Wash.) is a community action program which uses case management to 

help clients reach self-sufficiency and uses an in-house curriculum that was developed to help 

case managers talk about money with clients.

LISC Financial Opportunity Centers are located in 23 cities and provide career and 

personal financial service centers focused on the financial bottom line for low- to-moderate 

income individuals. 

Rise Foundation (Memphis, Tenn.) provides training to employees of United Way-funded 

organizations using its own curriculum—Common Cents—within the workplace. They bring the 
54 FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROGRAMS, SEPTEMBER 2013

training to the nonprofit organizations to make attendance easy for the nonprofit, frontline staff, 

and case managers. 

United Way of Greater Chattanooga (Chattanooga, Tenn.) provides financial education 

and other financial empowerment services to urban and rural families by training staff of faithbased organizations, nonprofits, and other partners who directly serve families in need of 

assistance.

United Way of King County (Seattle, Wash.) provides financial empowerment training to 

Employment Cohort agency staff so they can integrate financial education into the employment 

services offered to their clients.

United Way of Silicon Valley (San Jose, Calif.) works with partner organizations on 

setting up a credit coaching programs that are staffed by both paid staff and volunteers and 

conducts delivery of their Credit Coaching Training for paid staff and volunteers who want to 

become credit coaches.