At the core of the Financial Opportunity CenterTM model is our bundled service delivery: financial coaching, income supports, and employment coaching. To meet the needs of Houstonians’ daily lives, LISC Houston’s partners have incorporated more and more tools to assist with real life and ability to help people more holistically.
Some tools we have been or started using include financial planning, financial coaching of entrepreneurs, business savings clubs, small business courses, digital, and homeownership.
Investing and financial planning: Our network is connected to the Financial Planning Association, Houston Chapter, which dedicates Certified Financial Planner volunteer hours to assist FOC clients with longer term planning, as well as workshops on strategies for retirement, Financial Planning basics, and more.
Entrepreneurship and financial coaching: We are seeing demand for more financial coaching for small business owners and entrepreneurs. In 2025, we anticipate bringing a training for Financial Coaching for Entrepreneurs so that our FOC staff can be as effective as possible when meeting with small business owners who need help with their finances.
VSBDR: The Verizon Small Business Digital Ready [link] platform has been rolled out to FOC partners, in addition to the Business Development partners. Our FOC coaches have been using VSBDR to assist their clients who are small business owners, expanding both the coach’s and the entrepreneur’s knowledge base and access to information. One partner held an event to introduce VSBDR to a larger group. One partner is using VSBDR to assist clients in the microbusiness club. And another is using VSBDR to support clients who need extra support in their financial lives; coaching around the impacts and differences of business and personal financial stability.
Digital: FOC partners are using the increased need for digital literacy and access to ensure FOC clients have the skills they need for obtaining and retaining employment. In some cases, this means partnering with other departments within their agency, and using innovative strategies such as technology lending libraries and workshops on day-to-day technology use to segue into more specific learning about computer applications.
Homeownership: As our OwntheHou program matures, we can rely on FOC partners to help prospective homeowners build credit, save for downpayment or other homeownership costs (through financial coaching, budgeting, and matched savings programs, among other tools), and use other departments in their agency to supplement homeownership counseling and house hunting resources.
To continue keeping up with increasingly complex lives, and use the best resources and tools available, our FOC partners continue to innovate, streamline, and learn to be able to bring the most opportunity to Houstonians in search of a better financial future.
For more information contact Ellary Makuch, Program Officer, at emakuch@lisc.org