The Financial Opportunity Center is taking the mystery out of money management and wealth building for Battle Creek's low income residents.
In early March, the 4,300-square-foot Financial Opportunity Center opened its doors on 15 Capital Ave. Goodwill Industries Central Michigan Heartland
(GICMH), headquartered at 4820 Wayne Road, operates the center.
Already, more than 90 qualifying residents have signed up to develop a skill set designed to lift them out of poverty.
The
Financial Opportunity Center is a natural extension of Goodwill's mission to get people back into the workforce, says Ken Bauer, president and chief executive officer of GICMH.
The center provides participants with a bundle of services that includes financial literacy training, assistance with access to benefits and help obtaining employment.
"This will enable them to begin accumulating wealth and become less dependent on public assistance," Bauer says. "Getting someone a job, but not showing them how to budget their money doesn't do any good. We want to make this program the cornerstone of everything we do."
To be truly effective in the lives of the Financial Opportunity Center's target population, Bauer says, individuals must commit to spending from 18 months to three years in the program.
Clients begin with the financial literacy training component of the program which helps them examine their spending behaviors and develop priorities for spending money.
Clients also get assistance in accessing benefits and resources that will serve as a safety net as they work towards establishing a budget. This helps them to maintain financial stability.
The workforce development component is the final step in the Financial Opportunity Center experience. Experts provide assistance with everything from resume creation to interviewing techniques and job placement.
Funding for the Financial Opportunity Center is provided primarily by a three-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Officials with
WKKF awarded the grant in early 2011 after determining that the local Goodwill was the area's best qualified agency to deliver the required programs and services.
The Financial Opportunity Center is modeled after the
Center for Working Families concept, developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Beyond Battle Creek, Goodwill operates Financial Opportunity Centers in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.
"Our grant-making focus is to ensure that families achieve economic security, which they need, in order to provide a strong foundation for their children. We recognize the primary needs of a family must be addressed to create pathways out of poverty for children," says Reggie LaGrand, director of Battle Creek Programming for WKKF. "We support innovative programs that increase the financial security of women-headed families, foster entrepreneurship, promote postsecondary achievement and financial independence."
LaGrand says data compiled by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation shows that individuals and families who receive bundles of services are more likely to engage in the program and can begin to realize a positive change in net income, net worth and an improved credit score.
"Changes in behavior which lead to these positive outcomes will translate into a dynamic opportunity for individuals and their families," LaGrand says. "A financially stable family will have a stronger impact on their children and in our community."
Bauer says he felt it was critical to the ongoing success of the Financial Opportunity Center to locate it in an area which would be readily accessible for clients of the program.
"Physically, we are in the wrong spot at Fort Custer to offer our workforce develop programs and services like. The population that needs these doesn't live near Fort Custer and we didn't want transportation to be an issue. It made sense for GICMH's programs to move downtown."
Coincidentally, the building that houses the Financial Opportunity Center is the former site of Great Lakes Bancorp, Bauer's first employer out of college. Goodwill is leasing the building, which has been retrofitted to include state-of-the-art computer labs, meeting rooms and private office spaces where clients can speak confidentially with any of the 12 Goodwill employees who have relocated to the Financial Opportunity Center.
"If someone came to us at the Financial Opportunity Center and they needed help from another nonprofit, they could arrange to meet here with members of the other nonprofit entity," Bauer says. "With the population we're talking about, a significant percentage of the people are already working with many other nonprofit organizations and receive multiple services. The Financial Opportunity Center is well positioned to be a focal point for the delivery of a variety of social services."
This spirit of collaboration within the Financial Opportunity Center is further witnessed by GICMH's recent effort to create a more formal affiliation with higher education institutions, such as Kellogg Community College.
This effort is part of assisting participants with the educational aspect of workforce development. The Financial Opportunity Center also is working with many local financial institutions who are offering their expertise in the financial planning arena to program participants.
LaGrand says helping individuals and families with low to moderate incomes to focus on their financial bottom line changes financial behavior in a way that encourages a long-term commitment to financial planning, increasing income, decreasing expenses and acquiring assets.
"Economically stable families are able to strengthen communities by improving neighborhoods through the purchase of a home," LaGrand says. "WKKF (The W.K. Kellogg Foundation) believes that through a stable family, a community can grow strong. We aspire to move families to 200 percent above poverty and we feel the Financial Opportunity Center is a means to accomplish that goal."
The first step, however, is a desire and willingness for the individual to participate in the Financial Opportunity Center program, Bauer says.
"Our whole goal is to deliver services to people who need them," Bauer says. "We are willing to help people who are willing to help themselves."
Jane C. Parikh is a freelance reporter and writer with more than 20 years of experience and also is the owner of
In So Many Words based in Battle Creek.
Photos by Erik
Holladay.