MAY 2020

DESIGNING THE WAY TO

EQUITY

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Designing the Way to Equity A FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT PROJECT

Author: Ola Wadibia

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank the five organizations and their staff and clients who participated in the Financial Empowerment Cohort: Bon Secours Community Works, Hispanic Unity of Florida, Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center (formerly Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center), North Lawndale Employment Network and Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center.

A special appreciation to the project team for their dedication, ingenuity, resilience and bringing their full selves to each other and our partners:

• Lillian Singh

• Dominique Derbigny

• Hiba Haroon

• Carmen Shorter

• Vanna Cure

• Laura Yepez

Thank you for cultivating and nurturing an affinity group of women of color that centered similarities and differences; personal experiences with power and privilege; and respective fights against racial and economic inequality. Thank you for helping to create the world we want to see.

The author would also like to recognize the following Prosperity Now staff members who contributed to the creation of this brief and supported the execution of the in-person convenings: Roberto Arjona, James Durrah, Ursula Cisneros, Sandiel Grant, Myrto Karaflos and Chelsea Thomson.

Prosperity Now is grateful to the following organizations and people who provided valuable thought partnership, expertise and tools for the sub-cohort: Myisha Gatson of MPACT Institute and Valeria Lassiter of Lassiter and Associates, LLC.

Finally, we’d like to thank JPMorgan Chase & Co. for their generous support of this project.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Overview of the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project .................................................................. 5

I. About the Financial Empowerment Cohort Project .......................................................................... 6

II. The Financial Empowerment Technical Assistance Approach .................................................... 10

III. Key Lessons Learned from Financial Empowerment Approach Implementation .................... 15

IV. Reflections from the Financial Empowerment Cohort Members (The Champions) .............. 22

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................... 27

V. About the Featured Organizations ......................................................................................................28

Endnotes ................................................................................................................................................................................... 30

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Executive Summary

During the fall of 2018, Prosperity Now set out to deliver technical assistance to leaders of color to:

• Elevate the strengths of financial empowerment program managers as agents of change in theirorganizations and communities

• Demonstrate how a deep understanding and application of racial economic inequality data helpsdesign programs that are tailored to clients’ financial needs and goals

• Create a community for service providers who rarely have bandwidth and opportunities tocollaborate with peers

• Leverage our organizational power to help the participating leaders and their organizations shiftpower back into the hands of their communities.

The goal was to use capacity building, for these leaders and their organizations, as power building that could translate to impact at the community level. Furthermore, to inform technical assistance process for working with leaders of color, Prosperity Now staff committed to honor culture, history and geographical context as essential inputs for designing capacity building strategies. Staff also devoted time to discuss and identify the competencies necessary for technical assistance (TA) providers (i.e. Prosperity Now staff) to effectively support leaders of color and organizations of color.

Bon Secours Community Works (West Baltimore, MD); Hispanic Unity of Florida (Hollywood, FL); Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center (New Orleans, LA); North Lawndale Employment Network (Chicago, IL); and Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center (Miami, FL) are the five organizations that comprised the Financial Empowerment cohort. These organizations provide community members with essential social and financial services and products to weather the significant financial insecurity facing families and communities of color in their respective cities.

Capacity building efforts in this project focused on change management, leadership development, racial economic inequality analysis, and programmatic design. Prosperity Now supported leaders from the five participating organizations in increasing their understanding of racial economic inequality; assessing their internal operations and local environment; connecting them to external resources; and leveraging their assets. The project was built upon human-centered design principles, which informed how the TA providers partnered with the nonprofits' staff of color and their clients in the planning and design processes. In addition, TA providers were trained to center the humanity and dignity of the local nonprofit leaders while helping them tackle the unique opportunities and challenges within the ecosystems in which they operate and serve families.

This report will highlight key lessons gleaned by Prosperity Now staff based on the experiences of the participating organizations during the 18-month Financial Empowerment Cohort engagement. It is aimed at organizations of color who have been contemplating racial economic inequality, and how their organization’s programming can be enhanced to build the economic power of their communities. This report’s lessons and considerations could also be helpful for any intermediary organization seeking to understand how to design

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an effective technical assistance process that embeds a racial economic equity analysis and supports leaders of color within organizations of color.

Part One explains our definition of financial empowerment, the economic conditions that made this project necessary, and our theory of change. Part Two focuses on the technical assistance approach of the project. Part Three shares five key lessons that emerged during the discovery, design and/or implementation stages of the project that can help other organizations enhance their financial empowerment programs. Part Four features quotes from the leaders about their experience, along with advice to their peers who might want to embark on this kind of work. Part Five provides additional information about the participating organizations.

Overview of the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project

In order to address the significant financial insecurity facing families and communities of color, JPMorgan Chase partnered with Prosperity Now to establish the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative in 2015. During 2016, the flagship project, Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color, was launched in eight cities across the country: Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Wilmington, DE; New Orleans, LA; Miami, FL; Minneapolis, MN; and Seattle, WA.

The Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project focuses on three pathways to build the capacity and resilience of organizations to harness public, private, philanthropic, and political partnerships as they build power to serve their clients and build community-level assets.

Organizational and Leadership Development Training: We have created an organizational development approach designed to build leadership and organizational capacity and provide targeted and individualized training to cohort organizations. This training is provided by consultants of color and those who engage in capability-building work through a race-conscious lens.

Asset-building and racial wealth equity workshops rooted in data: We produce Racial Wealth Divide City Profiles to support leaders of color and local stakeholders as they improve their understanding of the connection between assets and the racial wealth divide. Leaders of color are trained around the importance of leveraging data to show that socioeconomic inequity is a result of systems that perpetuate inequality, rather than the behaviors or choices of individuals.

Networking and Convening Opportunities: We provide networking and convening opportunities so organizations of color can build relationships within and across networks. These opportunities also increase their access to key influencers and decision-makers in their respective cities and beyond.

It is in the spirit of the second pathway—asset-building and racial wealth equity workshops rooted in data—that we launched the Financial Empowerment Cohort. The Financial Empowerment Cohort was a group of BHINC organizations that applied through a competitive invite-only RFP process. This work sought to engage a new set of changemakers within the organizations who had previously received support by focusing on

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their economic programming. The Cohort was focused on exploring how to enhance the financial empowerment programs organizations offer, and on equipping the leaders as they lead the way in community-wide conversations on racial wealth inequities that are rooted in data. Nonprofits of color have been historically subjected to the same resource inequity their community members face, with their intended impact being undercut by these multi-layered forces. Recognizing there is no silver bullet when it comes to addressing the racial wealth divide, we chose to focus on asset building and racial wealth equity programming as an integral piece of a much-needed, multi-pronged approach to the challenge. It is also important to highlight that the principles of the first pathway – organizational and leadership development training – were woven into the technical assistance approach. These principles also informed the decision to staff the project with professionals of color, who were committed to bringing a race-conscious lens to the work.

I. About the Financial Empowerment Cohort Project

Defining Financial Empowerment The Cambridge Dictionary defines empowerment as “the process of gaining freedom and power to do what you want or to control what happens to you.”i Understanding empowerment as both a process and an outcome was an integral foundation for influencing change with the individuals and organizations Prosperity Now sought to support through this project. As a result, the financial empowerment goal of the project was to support the building of economic power for communities that have been historically marginalized—a means by which individuals can engage in economic activity that benefits themselves and their communities.

It was important during this project to think beyond the bounds of traditional financial capability services – the set of services that support individuals’ capacity, based on knowledge, skills and access, to manage financial resources effectively. Financial capability services include things like financial education, financial coaching, and savings programs. Alternatively, financial empowerment services are any services or products that impact economic opportunity for clients, such as income boosts, employment, stable/affordable housing, entrepreneurship supports and education opportunities. First, inequality is predicated on more than one individual’s circumstances or skills. Access, or lack of access, to economic opportunity is structural in nature and as such will require disruption across institutions and society. (more focus on this in the following section). Prosperity Now did not prescribe what services and areas of focus organizations must prioritize in this project. Instead, space was created to analyze how racial economic inequality manifests in each city, and to allow those insights to form the foundation by which organizations selected a target service or program. Second, there was a hypothesis that a new set of client services could emerge that might uniquely support organizations of color. Third, while much of the work focused on optimizing services, Prosperity Now learned they had to understand how service delivery practices, internal cultural dynamics, and leadership structures functioned within each organization in order to support the development of programmatic innovations, and to help the leaders build power.

Racial Economic Inequality Across Four Urban Cities Communities of color are more financially insecure than their White counterparts. The 2020 Prosperity Now Scorecard highlights that 37% of households lack a basic personal safety net to get them through a financial shock. These households are liquid asset poor, which means that they do not have enough in liquid savings

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to replace income at the poverty level for three months. When disaggregated by race, just over 58% of Black and Latinx households are liquid asset poor, which is double that of White households.ii These racial disparities cut across many different household well-being indicators – education, health, employment, debt – and have been influenced by numerous tactics of systemic racial discrimination and exclusionary actions. In fact, “race and ethnicity are among the greatest predictors of household and community wealth and economic opportunity.”iii

Among the four urban cities in which we conducted this work, the income poverty rate1 for households of color hovers between 21% and 27%. When drilling down by race, the income poverty rate for Black and Latinx households is two to four times the income poverty rate of White households in these cities. These metropolitan areas are populated by more people of color relative to White people, compared to other cities with a similar population size, but Whites experience an income poverty rate of 10% or less. In Bound: How Race Shapes the Outcomes of American Cities, Sims notes that “populations of the top-performing large and mid-sized cities…are on average, nearly two-thirds White.”iv Bound seeks to explore the circumstances that have reinforced the racial wealth gaps we see in our nation’s cities, such as our four cities of focus, and provides a nuanced and data-driven perspective on the obstacles that require dismantling to make more equitable communities and cities.

The Racial Wealth Divide Profiles of the four cities in which Prosperity Now worked – Baltimore, Chicago, Miami and New Orleans – highlight the conditions that have contributed to economic inequalities in their respective cities. Baltimore, MD is a majority Black city, but across several financial security outcomes (i.e. household income, liquid asset poverty, education and unemployment), Black Baltimore residents fare far

1 Income poverty rate is the percentage of all families with income in the past 12 months below the federal poverty threshold. The Department of Health and Human Services bases calculations for the federal poverty level on it. For example, the poverty level for a household of four in 2019 is an annual income of $25,750.

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Overall White Black Latinx Asian Native

Income Poverty Rate by Location and Race

Baltimore, MD Chicago, IL New Orleans, LA Miami, FL National

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worse than their White, Latinx and Asian counterparts. Both renters and homeowners of color are significantly cost-burdened. However, Black households are worse off with 59.3% of Black renters being cost-burdened, while 45% of Black homeowners are cost-burdened. Compare that to a rate of 47.2% and 29.6% for White renters and owners, respectively. Racially restrictive policies in the early 1900s, such as those around voting and homeownership, can be correlated with the homeownership gap between Whites and Blacks and the lower median value of Black-owned homes.v

While at first glance, Chicago is more demographically diverse than a city like Baltimore (Black, White and Latinx households all make up about one-third of the population), it is highly segregated. This segregation was shepherded by city leaders in the 20th century through a combination of racial steering, exclusionary zoning laws, and racially restrictive covenants – all efforts that contradicted the promise of “a safe haven” which sparked the Great Migration. All of this has contributed to the stark disparity in access to homeownership, education, financial services, and healthcare that remains today. For example, of “Chicago’s 42 hospitals, only nine are located in the city’s southern half” where predominately Black and Latinx families are concentrated.vi

Miami is truly unique in that 58% of its population is comprised of immigrants. Latinx are the dominant ethnic group in Miami, but there are differences in outcomes between ethnic groups. Cubans comprise the largest share of Miami’s residents and enjoy a 37% homeownership rate—higher than any other Hispanic and Latinx subgroup. Unfortunately, with the lowest median income of any Hispanic and Latinx subgroup, the housing cost burden Cubans carry inhibits their ability to build wealth for the future. On the other hand, South Americans, who make up about 10% of the Latinx population, are more degreed and are the least likely to live in poverty. Household incomes for Black and Haitian households ($21,000) lag all other groups in Miami and are three times less than White household income, whose median sits at over $70,000. Overall, Miami’s White population economically outperforms many of their peers nationwide, while people of color in Miami are worse off than their peers.vii

New Orleans, like Baltimore, is another majority Black city (59%), and the share of the population has been dramatically impacted by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Many Black households were displaced, and there are now 100,000 fewer African Americans living in the city. Down from 67% of the population in 2000, the Black residents now make up 59% of the city’s population. In the same period, the White population has increased by 4% (now 31% of the city population); the Latinx population increased by 2% (now 5% of the total); and the Asian population by 1% (now 3% of the total). In aggregate, communities of color are six times more likely to live in poverty than White families, demonstrating that the recovery in New Orleans has been very unequal. While the rate of homeownership for Black households at 43% is higher than in the three aforementioned cities, median property values are still half of White households' property values, further illustrating the asset gap.viii

The organizational leaders who participated in this project provide services to clients in the midst of rampant racial economic inequalities. The approach of this project was to acknowledge and analyze these disparities, and to build the infrastructure of the participating organizations.

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Financial Empowerment Project Theory of Change

The Financial Empowerment Project was supported by the guiding pillars of the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project. Accordingly, the technical assistance for the project focused on supporting leaders of color. These leaders, who mostly worked within nonprofits serving communities of color, also received assistance with enhancing their financial empowerment programs. Capacity-building sessions provided guidance on change management, leadership development, and racial economic inequality analysis and programmatic design. The prevailing assumption was that we could strengthen financial empowerment programs and services in the long-term. These programs would be strengthened by supporting uniquely positioned leaders of color with technical assistance and capacity building in an effort to create more strategically designed programs, focused on wealth-building. By supporting organizations to strengthen and enhance their financial empowerment programming, Prosperity Now staff worked to boost their visibility as leaders in their communities and position them to collaborate effectively with other service providers and philanthropy to address the racial wealth divide.

Due to the mode of technical assistance and the short-term nature of the project, target outcomes on the entities were focused on the individual leaders and their organizations, rather than the clients they serve. Community level impact is an aspiration of many within the asset-building and social service fields but measuring this level of change requires a longer-term investment of time and resources. This approach ensured that we accurately report results of the project. By the end of the 18-month project, Prosperity Now provided each of the participating organizations access to the resources needed. Also provided to the cohort was a plan for infrastructure change, to offer enhanced financial empowerment services within their existing programs that improve their clients’ financial lives. The goal here was to create the foundation for these leaders and their respective organizations to have increased visibility with funders around their ability to implement effective financial empowerment programming.   Additionally, longer term goals included:

• Organizations of color being elevated as leaders in supporting and advancing economic financial stability strategies for communities of color

• Households of color improving their financial well-being through receipt of appropriately tailored and effective services

About Our Financial Empowerment Cohort Partners

Bon Secours Community Works works to enrich West Baltimore communities with programs and services that contribute to the long-term economic and social viability of neighborhoods. The nonprofit seeks to further the mission of the Sisters of Bon Secours through housing, health and community development initiatives and adheres to the Sisters’ commitment to provide good help to area residents.

Hispanic Unity of Florida provides assistance through 12 programs and 30+ services in four languages to South Florida's diverse community. As an UnidosUS Affiliate, it is one of South Florida’s largest agencies dedicated to the immigrant population, providing them with the tools they need to build a new life.

Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center was established to eradicate housing discrimination throughout the greater New Orleans area. In 2012, the organization expanded its services throughout Louisiana and has built an impressive record of advocating for the fair housing rights of Louisiana consumers through enforcement, education and homeownership protection programs.

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North Lawndale Employment Network operates to improve the earnings potential of the North Lawndale community through innovative employment initiatives that lead to economic advancement and an improved quality of life for residents. Its unique program model bundles employment training, financial counseling and income supports as well as hands-on employment and management experience through the social enterprise, Sweet Beginnings.

Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center’s mission is to empower, strengthen and uplift South Florida's Haitian community by providing free access to information and services – such as safety net benefits, educational and training opportunities, housing opportunities, economic self-sufficiency, and access to healthcare and legal services - to ensure its successful integration.

Please see the appendix for additional information about the organizations.

II. The Financial Empowerment Technical Assistance Approach

Project Roadmap

The project consisted of three phases: Discover, Build, Amplify and Do. These three phases were developed to help guide the organizations from learning, to designing to implementing.

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A. Discover Phase

During the initial Discover Phase, the technical assistance interactions and activities were focused on learning about the advocates, referred to by Prosperity Now as “champions;” their organizations; the clients they serve; and their local community. Prosperity Now staff explored the champions’ roles within their organizations and what motivated them to serve. Staff also employed a strengths-based approach to uplift aspirations and opportunities that could be leveraged by champions. During bi-monthly phone calls with the Prosperity Now team, champions were asked to explain their organization’s structure, its programs, and its history. Taking the time to build rapport and ensure each question served a purpose was important to avoid repeating the common practice of extraction, which often occurs in communities of color. During the in-person site visits, other colleagues were engaged to offer their perspectives. Engaging other staff and relevant stakeholders early on was deemed critical to securing their support and enthusiastic participation, which in turn could lead to programmatic success and sustainability. The project team also sought to understand the role the organization plays in its local community; how clients engage with the organization; and how they work with other local stakeholders in the community. All this was needed to establish a shared understanding of the organization’s starting point.

The urgency to kick off a project and stick to a prescribed timeline often leads practitioners to prematurely jump into the tasks of a project, and consequently neglect important interactions and conversations that can support goal alignment. The Discover phase was about six months long, intentionally fashioned to diminish avoidable problems in the future or inhibit the technical assistance provider’s ability to provide meaningful suggestions and stimulate true collaboration in solution development. For example, creating the opportunity to assess an organization’s relationship with change can prevent repeating past mistakes that might have tripped up past change efforts. Building connections with the people who are being supported is about centering humanity and dignity for the partners in the work. Prosperity Now understood how essential the in-person site visit was for cementing the budding interpersonal connections between the Prosperity Now staffer(s) and the champion with whom they were partnering, as well as for advancing the learning process. Prosperity Now staff also needed to lean into humility - understanding that while they bring an expertise, they are not experts in the experience of the champions and communities in which the champions operate.

This phase culminated in each organization developing a theory of change that outlined a high-level plan for how to support the financial security of their target communities. The theory of change encapsulated three key components: the current conditions, intended outcomes, and potential interventions. Champions were encouraged to explore both the individual financial lives of their clients as well as the underlying structural conditions that influence and impact their financial lives. Then they were asked to brainstorm the changes they wish to impact, at both the individual and structural level. The final step was to identify corresponding interventions that could move clients from their current state to the intended outcomes. The completed theory of change was to be used as a tool to understand what capacity, resources or support the organization needed to improve or expand financial empowerment services.

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B. Build Phase

To kick off the Build phase, Prosperity Now technical assistance providers supported the champions to draft one or two financial empowerment goals based on the theories of change developed during the Discover Phase. While the theories of change listed numerous intended outcomes, champions were supported to identify a focus area so that a strong action plan could be developed. It was important to clarify what aspect of racial economic inequality (i.e. income, employment, health, etc.) within the community would be the north star. From there, champions would be well positioned to explore their existing capacity to deliver the relevant interventions, and to achieve their financial empowerment goals. Champions were guided through a process that included exploring existing service offerings, and brainstorming changes to organizational operations.

Following up on the previous efforts made to keep staff aware of impending changes, this phase made space to prepare staff more adequately for these changes and determine a clear plan for service delivery. The technical assistance approach laid out an assumption that many organizations would be led to collaborate with external partners. However, more time was spent attempting to break down silos within their institutions and build enthusiastic support across their organization. Coaching during technical assistance calls featured discussions and activities that prompted champions to analyze power dynamics within their organization and strategies to create advocates for their financial empowerment work. Champions simultaneously managed other workplace demands that included staff turnover, funding constraints, client services, grant development and additional responsibilities.

During this phase, Prosperity Now conducted an in-person convening that provided the opportunity for participating organizations to share their progress with the cohort, and to exchange ideas. Champions received support with ecosystem mapping, training in change management techniques, and assistance with tracking progress indicators. More information on the in-person convening is available in Part Four – Key Lessons Learned.

C. Amplify + Do Phase

The final phase of the project focused on implementing champions’ action plans, and on amplifying their work. This included activities such as training staff, formalizing new partnerships, and providing enhanced services. The project team was tasked with leveraging and sharing Prosperity Now’s network to support the partner organizations. Champions presented during Prosperity Now webinars, and at national conferences where they were connected to experts that could help them develop new systems for monitoring success. This final phase closed with another in-person convening focused on celebrating the groups’ successes and learnings, and on presenting tools that can help each organization communicate the value and impact of their work.

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Tracking Organizational Progress Toward the Intended Outcomes

This project focused on equipping the participating organizations with resources and a plan for infrastructure change to offer enhanced financial empowerment services within their existing programs. The aspiration was that these new and improved services would improve their clients’ financial lives within the context of racial economic inequality in their community. The project team presumed that not all the organizations would be prepared to launch services, measure impact to the community or secure new funding by the end of the project, so it was important to understand what incremental changes could symbolize progress toward these outcomes. Prosperity Now identified three indicators:

One indicator toward progress was whether an organization modified a core tenet of their program infrastructure. For example, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center operates a strong Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) that operates year-round and helps community members access valuable income. The organization had supported clients to access additional financial success through financial coaching, but it was not a service that clients would often approach them for. Sant La modified a core tenet of their program by developing a tax time strategy to refer clients to the financial coaching program. The organization enhanced staff capacity and knowledge in financial coaching, the impact that Sant La's financial coaching program has, and how and when to refer clients to financial coaching. As another example, Bon Secours’ financial services team sought to better integrate their services into the organization;s workforce development programs. Previously, the financial services team was often brought into workforce development or outreach programming in a piecemeal manner. During the project, Bon Secours worked to be incorporated into the planning process with other program staff and made progress in weighing in on scheduling, developing shared outcomes and follow-up strategies with clients.

Another promising indicator focused on setting a foundation for program sustainability. Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center’s Homeownership Protection Program (HOP) assists hundreds of homeowners each year in their attempts to avoid foreclosure and the consequent loss of generational wealth. While clients reported high satisfaction with the service they received, they noted they had not heard of the Action Center and their services until they had been referred by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Action Center decided to focus on developing and launching an outreach campaign that will allow them to initiate collaboration with other organizations supporting homeownership acquisition and protection. This campaign is anticipated to increase uptake of clients to prevent foreclosure and demonstrate the need for this service. Another organization in the sub-cohort, North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN), amended its intake process to reform an existing referral process that did not effectively serve clients. NLEN created and filled a new position to ensure fidelity to the new transparent and more efficient intake approach and will be able to place clients and operate programs more efficiently. In addition, NLEN was able to secure additional funding based on this modification, which demonstrates the benefit of streamlined program design.

Lastly, we observed progress when participating organizations were able to connect service pathways to client and organizational impact. Hispanic Unity of Florida (HUF)’s Financial Wellness and Asset Building program developed a strategy document that articulated three service delivery tracks for serving clients based on their financial capacity. Each track identified intended outcomes around knowledge, attitudes, skills, behaviors and long-term impact, with correlated financial capability topics and tools to meet these outcomes. In this way, HUF was successfully able to clarify service pathways to support the financial wellness of their participating families and indicate a change to program operations to achieve this impact.

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III. Key Lessons Learned from Financial Empowerment Approach Implementation

The Financial Empowerment Cohort focused on optimizing existing programs, as one strategy among many, to support the champions as they address the significant financial insecurity facing families and communities of color within their service footprint. Prosperity Now engaged the champions in an exercise of re-imagining the traditional approach to program design, which is often hyper-focused on individual behavior change. Instead, Prosperity Now staff partnered with the champions to reimagine the current program delivery service model, with an emphasis on focusing on the system and structure, to maximize their impact for their clients. This project was just as much about process as it was about results; iteration was constant. Prosperity Now staff centered racial equity as they sought to support the champions. This required acknowledging the unique expertise of the champions, while pushing them to analyze racial economic inequality data and to own their power.

Throughout this project, five lessons emerged as critical process points among the participating organizations.

A. Analyzing the Environment – the role of data and developing a racial economic equity analysis

Ensuring a racial economic equity analysis was incorporated into the project was essential to upholding the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative’s mission and impetus for the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project. The Discover phase sought to understand how historical context and structural racism impact the operations of an organization, and the financial experiences of staff who work within the organization and the clients they serve. Prosperity Now staff and champions spent time analyzing community economic data; assessing organizational practices and culture; and setting context for a springboard for change. As a fair housing agency, Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center’s operations have always been driven to address the structural barriers to housing equity. In New Orleans, the low-wage tourism industry coupled with post-Katrina gentrification has led to a surge in housing prices and a scarcity of affordable rental units. New Orleans is unique in that it’s a majority African American city. Unfortunately, the city has lost over 100,000 African American residents in the years following Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center is forthright in maintaining that homeownership protection efforts are necessary to preserve existing wealth in communities of color and stop the widening racial wealth gap. This led the champions to focus on analyzing how they can optimize their foreclosure prevention program. As one of the few organizations that provides this service in the city, the space was wide open to continue to enhance the reach of this program. Building from the theory of change provided the champions of Hispanic Unity of Florida (HUF) an opportunity to reflect on how their client demographics have been gradually expanding. While the organization continues to serve mostly Latinx and Hispanic immigrants, they are serving more younger people, older people and African Americans as their reach spreads through and beyond Broward County. Furthermore, clients’ households tend to be multi-generational, which opens the

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door for multi-level impact. Clients, across a wide age spectrum, come to HUF for support with education and training that will help them gain better-paying employment prospects, so they can make ends meet. The champions outlined some system-level conditions that are putting a strain on clients including:

• $8.25 minimum wage contributing to a low wage economy

• limited affordable housing supply

• high-cost rental market

• racial discrimination that leads to bias in securing housing

• young professionals moving to Broward County from Miami (gentrification)

• poor public transportation options that force reliance on cars

HUF resolved to identify employers that compensate their client referrals above $12 an hour and have benefits, while advocating as an organization for a $15 minimum wage county and/or state-wide. They also advocate for upholding consumer protections regulation, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's action on payday loans, that would ensure that community members do not get trapped in a debt cycle they cannot escape. While the theory of change process affirmed the necessity of advocacy efforts to address structural barriers, the discussion also led the champions to explore how HUF’s financial capability curriculum, which includes core lessons on money management and spending, borrowing and protecting your money, could work in tandem to support the whole family unit.

Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center (Sant La) used the Miami Racial Wealth Divide profile to better understand the city’s racial economic inequalities. Similarly, each of the participating organizations leveraged the Racial Wealth Divide Profiles for their respective cities. Given that Sant La predominantly serves the Haitian community, the profile was very useful but not sufficient in understanding the unique economic challenges of the Haitian community. The champions at Sant La worked with Prosperity Now staff to dig deeper by leveraging both quantitative and anecdotal data which allowed them to center the needs and goals of the Haitian community. Sant La truly symbolizes “for us, by us” since most of Sant La staff are also Haitian, often speaking their native Creole when delivering services. Sant La’s client population is mostly comprised of older adults who are often led into low wage, low skilled jobs due to bias based on their native language and assumptions about their ability. Many workforce programs emphasize education and apprenticeship opportunities, but these can be less appealing to clients who already hold degrees in their native country and are carrying multiple household responsibilities. Sant La has used this understanding to support clients with entrepreneurship opportunities, so that clients do not feel like they must leave their aspirations, skills and expertise back in Haiti. These insights brought nuance to the economic data that could be pulled from a profile, demonstrating the importance of community voice in a racial economic inequality analysis.

Another important data point in understanding Sant La’s client population is clients’ connectedness to family in Haiti. Supporting family back home was a common financial motivation, and Sant La’s staff welcomed those considerations into conversations of savings or asset ownership. When reached, these family-oriented goals were celebrated just as much as individual financial goals. In

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all, Sant La works to raise awareness about the unique goals and challenges that Haitian Americans face in the U.S.

B. “An approach is not a program” – thinking outside the confines of a program

The realization struck a champion from the Hispanic Unity of Florida team during the Design Convening conducted at Prosperity Now’s offices in April 2019: “An approach is not a program.” This one phrase illuminated a common occurrence in nonprofit networks: when a new approach to support clients is identified, organizations often build that approach into a highly structured, time-bound client program rather than integrate the learnings, tools and procedures into existing programs and across departments. The group realized this inclination had to be undone to realize more effective outcomes.

Hispanic Unity of Florida (HUF) had been considering the implementation of a two-generation approach within their in-school program, Unity for Teens. They built a program that would test the model, but something was not connecting quite right. They were forcing this model into a program that lived within their education department and was not effectively integrating adult parents and caregivers, or even the economic development department staff. It clicked that the approach was not meant to be confined to a program but needed to be a way of approaching all of HUF's work, as outcomes-based. The program merely serves to move clients to an outcome, not as this immovable, unchangeable entity. The other participants in the room perked up, as they digested this new concept that more adequately helped them enhance clients' access to services that would meet their needs.

The idea that an approach is not a program resonated for the Financial Services team at Bon Secours Community Works as they focused on integrating their services into the other programs at the organization. The team provides several services to the community in an ad-hoc or program structured manner, such as financial education, financial coaching, credit counseling, tax preparation and benefits enrollment. Clients can receive services as a standalone, but considering that Community Works serves hundreds of clients through their workforce programming, it made sense to think about how workforce participants could also engage in building knowledge and skills around financial management, as they prepare for new income. Depending on the length of the workforce program, the Financial Services team would be provided two to four one-hour work blocks to lead workshops and facilitate group coaching to the program participants. However, depending on program schedules these times could be cut short or re-allocated, or poorly attended. First steps included:

• engaging relevant workforce program staff

• building a client journey map to better understand how clients navigated their services

• identifying points in time where staff could collaborate behind the scenes to develop a better flow

That meeting led to a discussion about the outcomes of the respective programs and how they serve to complement each other. The next step was to incorporate someone from the Financial Services team into the workforce program planning meetings so they could be kept in the loop about

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emerging priorities and scheduling adjustments. This would provide an opportunity for the Financial Services team to advocate for more time and consistency and reflect on their experiences in the classroom with participants.

Many organizations get stuck on the way things have always been done, or what new funding stream has emerged and open a standalone program to align with that grant. It was important to allow the groups to think outside the confines of an existing program to see what approach could more effectively lead to the desired outcomes.

C. The Power of Staff – Building staff buy-in, breaking down silos and leveraging the expertise across the organization

A consistent theme of this work was staff engagement. Building buy-in is not a one-time occurrence – it’s a multilayered and iterative process. When implementing change, it’s important to first build awareness that a change is coming to whoever might be impacted by it. The ADKAR change modelix outlines a step by step framework for securing the support and building the capacity of staff to adapt to and implement change. Prosperity Now staff trained champions on this framework, and many in the cohort attached to this model and incorporated it into their action plans, ahead of the Build Phase of the project. Without authentic staff buy-in, even the best laid efforts can fall to the wayside. In addition, Champions confronted internal organizational silos that have hampered past progress and might have denied them access to expertise right under their noses.

After conferring with their peers during the Prosperity Now-hosted Design Convening, champions at North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN) were struck by the realization that the heads of the Financial Opportunity Center and the Workforce Development team were not meeting regularly, even though clients were regularly referred between the programs. The champions scheduled a meeting between the department heads upon returning home to Chicago, which kicked off a discussion about how to create a clearer, consistent and more transparent referral process. Across departments, several pain points had surfaced due to the lack of a streamlined intake process. Oftentimes, various staff were pulled into the intake process, which led to general confusion for staff and clients and inconsistency in assessing client readiness. When clients had to jump through various hoops to enroll in a program or were not placed, it was hurting the organization’s reputation and diminished the opportunity for large-scale community impact.

The goal to better serve clients effectively while maximizing the expertise of each program and staff member became clear. The champions brought together all the programs to discuss strengths and

The ADKAR Model The Prosci ADKAR® Model is a goal-oriented change management model that guides individual and organizational change. ADKAR is an acronym that represents the five tangible and concrete outcomes that people need to achieve for lasting change: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement

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pain points of the existing system and what they all wanted to be able to do for their clients. Through these honest conversations across programs, they were able to create a referral process that allows services to be tailored to participants based on their circumstances and reduces barriers to entry. This approach gave staff opportunities to work together and get clearer on who is doing what, when and how. NLEN even hired a new intake specialist to centralize the process. The new referral process, precisely because it was co-created and encompassed multiple perspectives, gave staff at all levels a greater appreciation for each other and the larger mission of NLEN.

Champions at Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center (Sant La) did not feel encumbered by a siloed organization. Factors such as a small team, shared identity amongst staff and clients, and leadership that encourages responsive and wrap-around services for all clients help diminish that circumstance. However, there were opportunities to intentionally cultivate buy-in and leverage expertise to support the goals of the financial coaching program. Sant La’s technical assistance provider took advantage of the opportunity to position the champion as an in-house expert on all things financial. The champion was positioned as a leader in the financial coaching field and was supported in developing trainings for staff. Simultaneously, Prosperity Now staff emphasized that while the champion was a leader, they could not do this work without internal staff partnership. Staff members’ burning questions about financial coaching shaped the trainings (e.g. credit, referral criteria for coaching, what financial coaching really is/what's the impact Sant La is having on clients through the financial coaching program). Staff at Sant La emerged feeling comfortable and equipped to support the champion in the ways needed to meet the financial empowerment goal and in a way that reflects the existing camaraderie of the organization.

The foreclosure prevention program at Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center is made up of a team of one. Since there are no other staff to manage the program, reaching across the organization was necessary to pursue any new ideas. Through conversations with Prosperity Now staff and the co-champion (who manages development at the organization), the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center decided to take action to increase awareness about the program. The champions connected with the organization’s Education and Outreach team to broaden their focus from fair housing education to more homeownership protection program awareness. The Education and Outreach team assisted in developing the outreach plan by identifying potential partners who can help build foreclosure prevention awareness. They also pointed to past fair housing-related campaigns that could be built upon to highlight the foreclosure prevention work.

To institute changes, program leaders must be adaptable and creative, as well as patient, since building buy-in and gaining a better understanding of fellow staff’s roles takes time.

D. Stepping into Leadership and Managing Up & Down - how program leaders can manage up and down, and how executive leaders can empower program leaders

This project sought to equip programmatic leaders with the knowledge, resources and analysis to improve their program design. While the broader Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color cohorts in each city had focused on executive leadership of each organization, it felt important to work with organizational staff who are closer to the work. It also provided a promising opportunity to work with folks who must both manage up and down, and often across. The circumstances demonstrated the

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capacity for programmatic leaders to step into their leadership, and how executive leaders can empower program leaders to be change agents within their organizations.

Sant La originally had both an executive leader and a program leader as the two champions. A noticeable shift occurred once the executive leader stepped back; the program leader stepped into the leadership role, by sharing more ideas about where to take the financial coaching work. The champion leveraged the support of technical assistance provider to refine the ideas and build a case that could be presented to the executive leader. The collaboration between the Prosperity Now staffer and champion also demonstrated an opportunity for the champion to position other peers for thought partnership and support, providing growth opportunities for other staff. Again, the ADKAR framework was essential in identifying what needed to happen in order to operationalize change across organizational roles. Once Sant La identified what was needed from both executive leaders and staff across all levels to achieve the goals of the project, the information was shared with the organization so that there was transparency and dialogue around what needed to happen. In this way, the champion played a key role in shepherding alignment within the organization so everyone could work together to have the intended impact.

At North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN), two program leaders became stronger allies as a result of the project goals. As mentioned earlier, leaders within the Financial Opportunity Center and the Workforce Development team didn’t really work together. But once they were brought together, with the encouragement of the executive leadership team, they grew to better understand each other's strengths, goals, etc., and therefore were able to more effectively and collaboratively advocate for their programs and staff. This trickled down to junior staff, leading them to be more bought-in to the new referral process and the overall mission of the organization. Furthermore, NLEN revamped its decision-making process in order to make sure that staff who have expertise in a subject or will be impacted by the decision have the opportunity to weigh in. Decisions are no longer made amongst just the senior leadership. Staff first discuss challenges and changes they want to see with each other at staff meetings and then work together to propose solutions. Leadership is involved throughout the process as a support, but not necessarily as the ultimate decider. This is a strong example of not only modeling leadership but literally redistributing power within an institution to lead to better outcomes.

E. Building Community – the power of the Financial Empowerment Cohort members

While Prosperity Now focused on equipping and empowering the champions to impact their communities, building a community among these leaders was just as deliberate and significant to the project. In 2017, Building Movement Project released the results of a survey intended to explore the racial leadership gap in nonprofits. The report outlines the “unspoken and unconscious biases that prevent those with the hiring power from fairly assessing, recognizing and valuing the potential [of leaders of color].” While the organizations in the Building High Impacts Nonprofit of Color Project are comprised of leaders of color (people of color only comprise 20% of nonprofit executive directors/CEOs), the champions in this cohort have not yet ascended to executive director, or CEO roles. Yet, they are subjected to leadership challenges like inadequate salary, lack of relationship with funding sources, and being called on to represent one’s entire community when chosen to serve within these positions.

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In her book, Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown calls out that dominant models of leadership are often based in isolation.x It was important to create a safe space where these leaders could practice vulnerability and mutual support as they tackle the nuanced challenges of their roles, and respective communities and cities. Building community is not exclusively about healing trauma. It is also about creating space for idea generation and creating more economic possibilities. All of the Prosperity Now staff on the project were also people of color with various racial, ethnic and cultural identities who could share their own economic analysis. They also personally related to the various challenges our groups were experiencing as leaders and staff members in a nonprofit.

The first community-building opportunity for the cohort was an in-person convening, six months into the project. By this time, the organizations were well into the discover phase, they had discussed their programmatic strengths and opportunities; established strong TA provider-recipient relationships; and developed a theory of change for the project. Prosperity Now staff carefully crafted an agenda that had space for presentation, training and interactive participation. The two-day convening opened and closed with an opportunity for all the participants to join in a circle, where they were encouraged to set an intention for the convening and “set aside” any burdens. At the end of the second day, folks were encouraged to return to these intentions and themes. This provided an opportunity for folks to ground themselves in the time together and presented an opportunity to see each other, not just as representatives of their organizations, but as individuals who carry different identities, motivations and aspirations in each of their respective ecosystems.

In addition, champions presented their vision for impact to their peers, allowing them to share the project goals in their own words. Participants cheered and affirmed each other after each presentation. When all presentations were complete, organizations were grouped together to present feedback to their peers. In a post-convening survey, participants commented that the feedback sharing was their favorite activity because it provided a structure for providing and receiving feedback, useful tips to refine their vision and actions, and an opportunity to learn from each other’s expertise. Large group discussions following breakouts or training portions of the agenda also allowed champions to identify common goals and challenges. During meal breaks, different champions gravitated to one another, probing about various strategies or tools that came up during discussion. For example, champions at Sant La shared how they centralized their intake process, which motivated cohort members to raise the idea of a resource exchange so they too could eliminate silos when they got back home.

This chemistry led Prosperity Now staff to develop a virtual learning series that could continue the momentum and energy of the in-person convening. The virtual series gave champions dedicated time to share resources such as updated curricula, new intake processes, and staff training materials. One participant later mentioned that getting to know cohort members face to face at the convening allowed him to be a more active participant on the virtual peer learning calls. He shared that time with his peers pushed him to ask tough questions and rethink what was possible at his organization. The cohort was also critical in validating his expertise and reaffirming his leadership. The time with peers gave him the confidence he needed to better advocate for himself, his ideas, and his program with his colleagues and leadership.

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IV. Reflections from the Financial Empowerment Cohort Members (The Champions)

After years of investing in financial capability integration, Prosperity Now set out to implement a new approach to program design – one that could imbue a racial economic equity analysis. From an early stage, champions demonstrated curiosity and commitment to spending more time analyzing their ecosystems, sorting through change management frameworks, and building buy-in among their colleagues. It was important for Prosperity Now to demonstrate that equitable program design requires its architects to be forward-thinking, inclusive, responsive and courageous. For some champions, the design process was completely new. For others, this had been a core function of their roles for many years. To provide additional context to readers who hope to translate this approach to their work, we asked our champions to illustrate their experience and share important considerations for their peers in the field.

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“ About the Project Structure and Dedicated Technical Assistance Time

[Before this project], I did not have any standard steps to redesign a program. I would just do things on my own. I didn’t really understand the necessity of collaborative efforts.”

PAULINE SYLVAIN, formerly of North Lawndale Employment Network

We heard Pauline’s sentiments echoed by other champions on the project. Many of the organizations did not have an intentional process to program design. Designing or refining a program might be the responsibility of one individual or a small group of staff but did not adequately create space for multiple inputs to impact the process. One tool that was helpful to the organizations was the use of a client journey map. Phyllis Taylor from Bon Secours Community Works said, “The journey mapping process was eye opening for me because it allowed us to understand what we were presently doing.” She continued, “When you are close to the work you don’t always see everything, and it makes us realize that we had taken [certain ways of doing things] for granted.”

Developing a theory of change was another helpful tool highlighted in the process. “The fact that we started working with the needs of the client, and started building from that…starting with the end goal in mind and working backwards…to [what we wanted to] achieve, I started to see the program differently,” said Sandra Tobon, from Hispanic Unity of Florida. It is critical for organizations to have a type of roadmap for the change they want to impact before jumping into design, lest they develop something that fails to ameliorate a persistent issue or misses a critical new opportunity for the target audience. Prosperity Now staff have previously heard from their partners that the opportunity to step back from day-to-day operations allows insights into the status quo. This is time that many identify as scarce within their day-to-day operations. Finally, all said that having dedicated time via technical assistance calls and in-person meetings to work with Prosperity Now as an accountability partner, as well as having resources, was very valuable. While securing technical assistance support or consulting will not be possible for everyone, organizations should consider building out multi-departmental, cross-hierarchical committees to spearhead this work and ensure that client, staff and community voices are incorporated in the design process.

Client Journey Mapping Client Journey mapping is a process for visualizing people’s experiences as they interact with a product or service. By mapping the client’s journey, you create an understanding of your project elements from their point of view and you can use that understanding to identify opportunities for improvement.

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“ Easing Anxiety and Building Desire

Any resistance (from staff) I observed was really based in fear that there would not be enough time for staff to engage In the learning process…and of not being knowledgeable enough to be effective in this new enhanced role, so we built in time to address that fear.”

ALPHONSE PIARD, of Sant La

In any change process, it is wise to seek to understand anxiety or outright resistance from the impacted parties, rather than dismissing it. In this case, Prosperity Now staff prepared champions to anticipate this from staff and provided antidotes. The champions at Hispanic Unity also acknowledged that resistance they encountered was less about the vision and more about the implementation process. “Our work has been siloed for so long that functionally, we had a difficult time seeing how this fits together”, said Ingrid Ekblad. She explained how she and her colleague, Sandra, built out detailed financial capability and two-generational approach trainings. Sant La’s champion, Alphonse Piard, noted that once he led a staff-wide financial coaching and credit training, he noticed staff being more confident and empowered to better serve clients. The champions at Bon Secours Community Works asserted that their resulting output from the project, a new codified financial education and coaching curriculum, will bolster their case-making ability for the importance of their integration into other departments. They can now more clearly share the target outcomes and the necessity of their seat at the table in shaping what integration looks like.

The Role of Equity We have to restructure how we assess [each] population we are presenting to; what are their commonalities and barriers and challenges; how do their experiences color the information we are conveying. We thought more about considering their opinions, I think that enhanced our racial equity lens.” PHYLLIS TAYLOR, Bon Secours Community Works

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Centering racial equity was embedded into the technical assistance approach and was also common conversation on technical assistance calls and in peer learning calls. Champions discussed how acknowledging the structural barriers that entrench inequity and resolving to identify solutions to push back on these forces provided focus in addressing clients’ needs at the root. Ingrid Ekblad from Hispanic Unity of Florida highlighted her focus on supporting the organization to develop a formal statement on racial economic equity. She has been meditating on “how are we moving people of color to achieve a better situation. It’s not just their income but how we are impacting them socially and economically.” Pauline Sylvain, formerly at North Lawndale Employment Network, acknowledged that “Equity has to be discussed before developing any programmatic solutions. Otherwise you could be putting a band-aid on [the problem] or make it worse.” She emphasized the need to engage other community service providers in discussions about the racial wealth divide in their local areas. Althea Saunders-Ranniar, from Bon Secours Community Works, raised the opportunity to incorporate equity directly into the financial education curriculum. She and her colleagues have incorporated a unit on wealth and have benefitted from a local partner supplying materials that can help them educate on Black Wall Street2 and other examples of Black people building prosperous financial systems. Althea stressed the importance of educating clients on the functioning of the financial system, the pervasive and hidden nature of inequality, as well as positive historical images than can stimulate personal action. She also characterized it as an entry point to political engagement to impact community and national level change that can open the door to opportunities. Ingrid Ekblad, from Hispanic Unity of Florida, also noted the importance of educating the immigrant population on historical and present-day inequities. Once HUF clients move to the U.S., they will likely be assigned a new identity as a “person or color” that might influence the negative experiences or barriers they encounter when trying to secure employment or building assets. On the micro-level, Alphonse Piard from Sant La talked about how their customer service approach is how the door to equity is opened. “When you’re in a nonprofit, it’s most important to serve the people with integrity. Treat them well and look for programs that really impact their life. That’s what trust and support looks like.”

Sustainability of the Work

The project allowed us to put something on paper that we have been wanting to do for so long.”

SANDRA TOBON, Hispanic Unity of Florida

2 The moniker for the district of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma that has been considered one of the most affluent African American communities in the United States in the early 1900s. On May 31, 1921, a white mob descended on the community, resulting in two days of bloodshed and destruction, which was later dubbed the Tulsa Race Massacre.

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Program and organizational sustainability rely on several factors, such as a business strategy, economic viability, capacity to deliver and adaptability. Prosperity Now’s primary goal was to build the capacity of the individual champions to implement a structured change process. Phyllis Taylor at Bon Secours Community Works noted that the project “has taught us how to be intentional in our process to develop new things using the discover, design and implementation model.” Breaking down the steps and demonstrating that they may be iterative provided an opportunity for exploration and testing, rather than jumping to an underdeveloped solution. Alphonse Piard from Sant La said, “[the project] made me feel more comfortable in applying concepts and feel more capable and confident about creating this change in the future.” As a leader within his organization, he leveraged this confidence to empower his staff and build shared desire to influence change.

The tools you shared with us are things we can continue to use and modify for our ongoing processes.” INGRID EKBLAD, Hispanic Unity of Florida

Prosperity Now noticed a lack of codification of change processes across most of the participating organizations, which is unsurprising considering challenges such as heavy workloads, staff turnover, overlapping data management systems and continuously shifting programmatic priorities. A huge milestone for the organizations was to organize the tools and strategies they acquired during the project so they could reference them on an ongoing basis. It could enhance their ability to implement future changes by outlining the what, when and how of change. The articulation of a plan was a boon to the organizations, supporting their economic viability. During the sub-cohort, Hispanic Unity of Florida, North Lawndale Employment Network and Sant La received additional funding to reach their financial empowerment goals. It is still early in the process to assess long-term sustainability, but each organization elevated sustainability as a goal and is pursuing various strategies to realize it.

Checking the Assumptions in the Project Theory of Change

It’s important to be open to change, because what you might have set out to do might not be what you end up doing because it all plays a role in where you land.”

MEENA HAQUE, formerly of Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center

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Prosperity Now outlined an ambitious theory of change, and it was important to ask the champions whether we helped them to achieve the intended outcomes. Each of the participating organizations were asked whether they had been equipped with access to resources, and a plan for infrastructure change to enhance financial empowerment services within their existing programs. The answer was unequivocally, “Yes.” Champions appreciated the technical assistance Prosperity Now provided and were confident that clients would benefit as a result. Regarding the medium-term outcome of increased visibility with funders, champions felt confident about gaining increased opportunities to amplify the lessons from the process, and to share future client outcomes. Furthermore, if they had not already received funding opportunities to continue this financial empowerment work, they felt confident that these opportunities would soon be in reach.

More time is needed to see whether the champions are able to achieve the longer-term goals of expanding their platforms as leaders of color; advancing economic financial strategies for communities of color; and seeing households of color receive appropriate and effective financial services. However, Prosperity Now remains optimistic about the possibilities to come.

Conclusion

This 18-month project has produced useful insights for any nonprofit seeking to modify its programs using a racial economic equity analysis. As has been demonstrated, intentional exploration of organizational practices and policies; deep investment in leadership development; and community-level data analysis are critical to a new approach to program design. While deeply appreciative of the affirmation of the champions, Prosperity Now has identified additional opportunities that could have benefited the impact of the project’s efforts. To bridge the gap between individual client outcomes and community-level impact, the technical assistance approach could have benefited from additional training and support around policy advocacy to bolster efforts to shift economic conditions and enhance programmatic interventions. In addition, embedding more extensive measurement and evaluation tools to track the longer-term progress of the champions and their financial empowerment services could support future technical assistance analysis. Lastly, creating opportunities for champions to include executive leaders during key transition points could have helped to bridge knowledge gaps and spur continued support. These elements will be kept in mind when developing future technical assistance projects.

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V. About the Featured Organizations

Prosperity Now aimed to support a sub-set of organizations within the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color cohort to enhance their financial empowerment programming. Bon Secours Community Works, Hispanic Unity of Florida, Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center (formerly Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center), North Lawndale Employment Network, and Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center participated in the Financial Empowerment Sub-cohort. The project was made possible through a generous grant from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Please see below for charts that include additional information about the organizations and their financial empowerment goals.

Bon Secours Community Works

Location Baltimore, MD

Champions: Althea Saunders-Ranniar, Director of Financial Services & Education

Phyllis Taylor, Community Financial Services Specialist

Financial Empowerment Goal(s):

• Integrate (or enhance integration of) financial services offerings (education and coaching) into all Community Works programs.

• Shift focus from workforce to housing programs to touch 160 tenants in 2020.

• Identify the appropriate outputs and outcomes to track integration within the programs.

Hispanic Unity of Florida

Location Hollywood, FL

Champions Ingrid Ekblad, Economic Development Director

Sandra Tobon, Financial Capabilities & Wealth Building – Program Manager

Financial Empowerment Goal(s)

• Develop and integrate a financial capability curriculum across all programs through whole family-centered delivery

• Cross-train organizational staff to prepare for curriculum and coaching delivery

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Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center

Location New Orleans, Louisiana

Champions Brad Hellman, Director of Homeownership Protection

Meena Haque, former LFHAC staff

Financial Empowerment Goal(s)

• Launch an outreach plan to increase visibility of the organization’s homeownership protection (HOP) services

• Increase awareness of foreclosure prevention methods in first-time homebuyer training (FTHB)

North Lawndale Employment Network

Location Chicago, IL

Champions Jose Wilson, Director of Workforce Programs and Clinical Services

Michelle Parker, Senior Financial Coach

Mark Sanders, former NLEN staff

Pauline Sylvain, former NLEN staff

Financial Empowerment Goal(s)

• Refine program outreach to enhance uptake of financial empowerment services at NLEN

• Refine the intake process to ensure prospective and current clients access the appropriate services for their needs

Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center

Location Miami, FL

Champions Alphonse Piard, Director of Financial Capabilities Services

Financial Empowerment Goal(s)

• Refine program outreach to enhance uptake of financial empowerment services at NLEN

• Refine the intake process to ensure prospective and current clients access the appropriate services for their needs

Endnotes

i Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus, 4th ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), s.v. "Empowerment," https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/empowerment. ii Lebaron Sims and Holden Weisman, What's Most Important: Stories from the Prosperity Now Community, Prosperity Now Scorecard, January 2020, https://prosperitynow.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/Scorecard%202020/2020_Prosperity_Now%20Scorecard_Whats_Most_Important.pdf. iii Lebaron Sims, Bound: How Race Shapes the Outcomes of American Cities, Prosperity Now, April 2019, https://prosperitynow.org/sites/default/files/resources/Bound_How_Race_Shapes_Outcomes_American_Cities.pdf. iv Ibid. v Racial Wealth Divide in Baltimore, Prosperity Now, January 2017, https://prosperitynow.org/resources/racial-wealth-divide-baltimore. vi Racial Wealth Divide in Chicago, Prosperity Now, January 2017, https://prosperitynow.org/resources/racial-wealth-divide-chicago. vii Racial Wealth Divide in Miami, Prosperity Now, October 2016, https://prosperitynow.org/resources/racial-wealth-divide-miami. viii Racial Wealth Divide in New Orleans, Prosperity Now, October 2016, https://prosperitynow.org/resources/racial-wealth-divide-new-orleans. ix "What is the ADKAR Model?", Prosci Inc., accessed March 2020, https://www.prosci.com/adkar/adkar-model.

x adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (AK Press, 2017), 21-22.

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