financial planning & management program

With Everyone Village (E1V)—https://everyonevillage.org/

At Everyone Village Eugene (E1V), the matched savings program provides the foundation for residents to practice financial planning and management skills through experience.  Program participants plan a savings goal, set up a savings account, and have opportunities to create and analyze balance sheets and cash flows, design a budget, track income and expenses, prepare for unexpected expenses, and receive a savings match to meet their goals.

Goals have ranged from gaining permanent housing, to paying educational or medical expenses, to purchasing transportation, computers, and cell phones.

MAPLE Oregon also assisted residents to file for taxes as, being low-income lilers, they could then received the returns owed to them on taxes paid. Since the State of Oregon had a budget surplus in 2023, which requires a kicker to be returned to taxpayers, the returns residents received—and would not have received if they did not file—were significant.

With Emerald Village Eugene (EVE)—https://www.squareonevillages.org/emerald

At Emerald Village Eugene (EVE), residents attended workshops related to interpreting and making decisions about their housing cooperative budget and expenses.  They also established a committee, the Outreach, Funding, and Education Committee, which designed processes for all residents to manage the EVE community fund and to organize ways to grow the fund through outreach, community-based microbusiness development, and grant writing.  

With the Commmunity of p:ear in Portland, Oregon—https://www.pearmentor.org/

With youth and staff at P:ear Mentors in Portland, Oregon, we are currently co-creating the savings and credit building pilot with financial education components. The process for co-designing the pilot, and the practice of financial planning and management within this pilot, will commence in 2025. So, stay tuned for more—soon!