The Building Wealth and Health Network (Network) is a trauma-informed, healing-centered financial empowerment program, that combines emotional and peer support to promote self-efficacy and resilience. 

The Network focuses on building families' intergenerational wealth and health by centering individual and collective healing, creating an environment of peer support, and providing financial empowerment education. By addressing the associations between trauma and financial health, the Network uniquely addresses the shortfall of public assistance programs through supporting the power of individuals and families to break the cycle of deep poverty. Its goal is to shift the discourse and policies surrounding public assistance programs so all people have the opportunity to flourish.

Human services, especially SNAP and TANF, have lost sight of human potential and instead put heavy emphasis on work participation rates and compliance. These services are often counterproductive because they spend extensive time making sure participants are compliant with forms and protocol instead of focusing their resources on directly addressing what participants need most: healing, support, solidarity, and financial empowerment. The Network brings the focus back to the power of individual and collective healing with its emphasis on peer support.

What is Financial Empowerment?

Financial empowerment is life-based financial coaching and education tailored to participants' lived experience and is the basis of the Building Wealth and Health Network. It is composed of three main elements:

1. Life-based - It is based on the belief that we cannot separate money from life. Financial decisions are made based on life experiences and those decisions impact many aspects of people's lives. Because of this, financial empowerment is more than just financial literacy. It incorporates what is going on in the world - the ever changing social and political environments that frame participants' lives. Education uses real life experiences and examples to ensure information presented is relevant and relatable.
2. Multigenerational - While people-centered, financial empowerment is not just focused on the individual but the multigenerational impact of financial decisions and wealth building. It centers the strategies that will impact families and communities.
3. Action-oriented - Financial empowerment is about more than just passively presenting information on financial topics. It is about taking action. Financial empowerment encourages participants to dream and set goals then supports them in developing the skills and strategies necessary to make those dreams a reality in their lives.

What We Do

• Lead trauma-informed financial empowerment classes for various organizations through contractual service agreements 
• Prepare organization staff to facilitate the Network program model in their own organization
• Train organization staff on a variety of topics including trauma-informed, healing-centered approaches

Learn More About the Network

• Network Program Overview
• Program Impact and Outcomes
• Research Publications
• Partnerships
• External Trainings and Consulting