ALC 2012: Financial Opportunity Centers: Building Wealth through Integrated Service Delivery

Last week’s Assets Learning Conference, organized by CFED, featured a number of sessions about integrated service delivery, embedding financial empowerment into social services, and streamlining access to services and benefits. In an era of increased need and serious state budget cuts, integrating services allows more people to access a comprehensive set of tools and programs, while simultaneously increasing the efficiency of service providers.

Financial Opportunity Centers (FOCs) are an example of one particular model of integrated services delivery that is promoting asset building in communities across the country. FOCs combine financial coaching and education, employment services and access to public benefits, with the goal of increasing clients’ long-term financial stability. Based on a model developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the FOC network launched in 2005 and currently includes sixty-five centers in twenty-five cities.

In a session moderated by Katrin Sirje Kark from Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), which supports the FOC network, three panelists discussed their experiences working at FOCs in Duluth, San Diego and Chicago. A theme of the conversation was how access and participation in multiple programs resulted in significantly greater returns for clients than participation in one program alone, which speaks to the effectiveness of the FOC model. Sarah Priest of Community Action Duluth provided some statistics to demonstrate the extent of the success of the “bundled services” approach, noting that clients accessing multiple programs were far more likely to improve their credit scores and net worth, while reducing debt. Community Action’s asset building branch also includes Duluth Saves, a program that allows clients to open up credit union accounts right in the Community Action office.

In addition to revealing how a model of integrated service delivery streamlines access to services and benefits, this panel showed how FOCs allow organizations to provide holistic service delivery to underserved communities with particular needs. Jason Jarvinen of the International Rescue Committee, which serves refugees in the San Diego area, and Frederick Stupen of the Safer Foundation, which provides re-entry assistance to ex-offenders in Chicago, discussed how the FOC structure enabled them to provide more comprehensive financial services to the populations they work with. For example, upon arriving in the U.S., refugees are temporarily eligible for certain types of benefits to assist with the process of getting resettled, and some may need to get newly certified for the type of work they were doing in their home country. Because the FOC model includes both employment and training services and public benefits assistance, the IRC is able to serve as a hub for refugees facing a range of financial issues.

Facilitating access to services that help families both cope with their short-term financial needs and plan for a more secure future is essential, particularly in the wake of the Recession. As the economy recovers, it will remain important to think of new ways to merge financial empowerment and the safety net to make a lasting impact on families’ financial security. 

Tell us here in the comments or on Twitter: what was your favorite #ALC2012 session?