BOCV

Building social capital is important, and so is building financial capital;

i.e., confidence, competence, and behaviors to manage money effectively in order to accomplish goals. In poverty many people feel overwhelmed and not in control of their limited finances.

 

To complicate matters, without financial competence, people in poverty are vulnerable to excessive banking charges, unmanageable debt, bad credit,

financial predators, and other dangers, which makes it easy for people to get trapped in a cycle of debt. Complicating this, many financial literacy programs start with middle-class assumptions and language that only adds to people’s sense of failure and alienation.

 

It will require “collective impact” to significantly reduce poverty; that is, all sectors must become involved and coordinated, including structural elements. 

Close the social, as well as the economic, divide by equipping and encouraging middle-class stakeholders to be allies who make poverty a key issue for their families, organizations, workplaces, and political representatives

 

Reference: FROM VISION TO ACTION pg.8, From Understanding to Action: Lessons Learned in South Bend by Bonnie Bazata.