Financial Independence Track (FIT)
Doorways Financial Independence Track (FIT) program is a financial literacy program that, through individualized assessments, counseling and budgets, helps homeless women and families understand how to better manage their finances and debt in order to help them escape poverty, domestic violence and homelessness.
Challenges
Adult clients experience unique challenges in their efforts to succeed in today’s economy.
Victims of domestic violence typically experience:
- losing control of their finances to their abuser;
- suffering economic abuse;
- and misuse of their credit cards and bank accounts.
Homeless adults typically arrive at Doorways with:
- poor financial management skills;
- lack of budgeting knowledge.
As a result they often find themselves with:
- excessive debt;
- a poor and highly damaged credit rating;
- and minimal knowledge of managing their own finances successfully.
Solutions
The FIT Educator provides financial counseling sessions that focus on concrete steps to bring clients out of financial crisis. Together we develop a personalized financial action plan that allows our clients to:
- Create an action plan to manage and relieve their debt burden;
- Improve understanding of basic money management concepts;
- Learn to complete a monthly budget;
- Set up and review open accounts for security and necessity;
- Create their own bank accounts separating their association with their abusers finances;
- Live self sufficiently and independently.