Aspiring social workers in Atlanta are helping some underserved consumers find a credit union.
Three students studying social work at Clark Atlanta University are being trained in financial education and personal financial coaching through On the Rise Financial Center, a program run by Inclusiv.
These students are working with On the Rise to help move unbanked and underbanked consumers into mainstream financial institutions, including credit unions. But there is also the hope that they will continue to use these skills during their careers once they become social workers.
“It’s a win-win because we’re getting some additional members from this equation and these members are getting additional financial services and financial education,” said Sharon Odom, CEO of 1st Choice Credit Union, one of the participating institutions.
The training includes teaching the Clark Atlanta University students how to read a credit report, repair credit, budget and build personal wealth. They then work at the On the Rise center, helping unbanked and underbanked clients with these skills and hopefully getting them into traditional banking services.
Four credit unions – Credit Union of Atlanta, 1st Choice Credit Union, Bond Community Federal Credit Union and Peach State Federal Credit Union – have partnered with On the Rise to offer services to participants.
Since On the Rise's launch in 2017, the center has coached 196 clients who were unbanked or underbanked and now 52 are members of a credit union. The program is expected to reach 275 clients in 2018 and hopes to reach 400 in 2019.
The interns, who have already worked with On the Rise for a semester, were a new addition to the program in 2018. Two interns were selected from the master of social work program. One doctoral student serves as a field supervisor and assists the two first-year MSW students with the curriculum. All three will work with On the Rise for a second semester in 2019.
“We are trying to inject financial literacy into the program at Clark Atlanta by offering this internship to students,” said Anna Foote, Southeastern regional director at On the Rise.
The injection is needed given that the financial center is in western historic Atlanta, which Odom referred to as a banking desert since many banks abandoned the area in the face of financial deterioration.
There are 15,000 houses in the community that On the Rise serves, but a huge percentage of those are “boarded up and completely uninhabitable,” Foote said. The program is combating this by paving a pathway to membership at one of the partnered credit unions.
Underbanked and unbanked clients can express interest in memberships, apply at On the Rise and the account will be opened on behalf of the client once approved. The minimum deposit required to open an account will be covered by On the Rise.
“There’s been a gap in financial literacy in this country,” Foote said. “It’s done all over in the United States, but it hasn’t been done in this way as a freestanding program that partners with multiple credit unions to not only provide the financial literacy and homebuyer education, but to also provide a path to membership and help encourage savings.”
