The challenges in Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County residents face many obstacles to achieving financial capability. Pre-pandemic data from multiple sources highlight that most County residents were struggling to stay afloat with nearly half of being liquid asset poor and housing-cost burdened. Additionally, our immigrant population face several challenges that often leave them excluded from the financial mainstream. While there is an array of asset building, financial education, and social service programs available from County departments and local non-profit organizations, there is little coordination amongst these services and no shared data collection to help policy makers understand the level of financial stability, or lack thereof, among County residents. Additionally, given the size and diversity of the County, staying informed on new policies, programs benefitting our vulnerable populations is a difficult task for service providers.

Establishing the Training Institute

Due to the unique challenges faced by County residents and service providers, we realized that we would be more impactful if we developed formal mechanisms to foster training, information sharing and networking that could help service providers stay informed and provide more robust services to County clients by establishing the Center for Financial Empowerment Training Institute.

The Training Institute will support the increased financial wellbeing of County residents by creating a regional learning community for service providers in asset building, social services and related fields. Financial coaches, case workers, social workers, housing counselors, eligibility workers, career development specialists, and a host of  other staff who work on the front lines with low-to-moderate income County residents need a place where they can learn about the financial empowerment and consumer protection fields; so they can identify integration points within their own programs, be more informed about trending issues, and service offerings across the County to better serve County residents by helping to connect them to other support services.