Financial coaching is a vital strategy for helping people of color achieve equitable outcomes when combined with systems-change efforts for fairer economic opportunities and conditions.  The road to financial well-being is filled with pitfalls and promises. For Black, Latinx, Indigenous or Native, and Asian people, navigating that road means facing disproportionate fines and fees, higher interest rates on loans, and discrimination in housing and employment. These practices are layered on top of a legacy of structural racism that has historically denied access and opportunities for financial security and freedom to Black and brown people.

What is the best way to ensure that financial coaching is designed and delivered in ways that are inclusive, treat everyone justly according to their circumstances, and further racial equity?

On June 23, the Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable hosted a webinar with a shared table of funders and advocates and other nonprofit organizations to advance collective, sustained action for racial and economic justice
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Speakers: 

Authors of the Asset Funders Network brief Financial Coaching with A Racial Equity Lens:
Dr. Kira Hudson Banks, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at St. Louis University and Co-Founder, The Mouse & The Elephant

Eric Ratinoff, Co-Founder, The Mouse & The Elephant
Jacqueline Butts, Sum Clarity, and recently HomeOwnership Program Director, Portland Housing Center
Aldo Medina, Craft3 and recently with Mercado Programs Director, Hacienda CDC
Franceria Moore, Learning Manager, Prosperity Agenda

We explored various perspectives on what is needed in Oregon to advance equity centered Financial Coaching. We discussed best practices, effective models, provided examples of financial coaching with a racial equity lens in practice, and heard from individuals from around the state about what they need to support them in this work. We also addressed key concepts in racial equity and defined financial coaching with a racial equity lens.

Live Spanish interpretation was included with the webinar and can be downloaded as a separate file.

Sponsored by: