Improving Workforce Outcomes through Financial Coaching
What follows is a summary of the insights LISC Chicago has gained from years of working with organizations to adopt and implement the Financial Opportunity Center® (FOC) model. The case studies highlight the experience of five Chicago-based organizations that participated in the Academy and are continuing to actively implement the model within their workforce services. The recommendations are intended to help organizations new to the FOC model understand the benefits of integrating financial coaching with more traditional workforce services, how to overcome potential roadblocks, and what resources are required for implementation.
Executive Summary
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Chicago and our partner organizations have been operating the Financial Opportunity Center® (FOC) network since 2005. The FOC model is an integrated service delivery strategy that equips low-income people with tools, support and knowhow to boost earnings, build credit, reduce expenses and make sound financial decisions. Each FOC client has access to a network of coaches that help them with job placement, retention and advancement; access to public and private benefits to supplement earnings; and managing a budget. FOCs coach families as they strive to become more financially stable through employment and/or increased wages, improved financial condition and improved access to public benefits.
When financial coaching is integrated into workforce services, families have more opportunity to increase their net worth through action planning, credit building, debt reduction and asset building. By incorporating financial coaching into their services, workforce organizations deepen the support they provide to their clients, equipping them with the financial capability strategies necessary for short- and long-term success.
Since 2005, LISC has partnered with 22 organizations supporting more than 12,600 people with job placement and helping over 10,500 people improve their net worth, FICO credit score and/or monthly net income. Guided by this experience, LISC Chicago launched the FOC Model Implementation Academy in 2019 to train more workforce development organizations how to integrate one-on-one financial coaching into their existing service delivery model. Through a months-long process inclusive of peer learning and technical assistance, the Academy helps workforce development organizations learn the model, co-create action plans with their internal teams and ultimately implement financial coaching and income supports as a seamless, integrated service delivery model within their existing workforce development programming. The goal of the Implementation Academy is not to expand LISCs formal FOC network, but to spread the knowledge and lessons learned from the network to the workforce ecosystem at large.
What follows is a summary of the insights LISC Chicago has gained from years of working with organizations to adopt and implement the FOC model. The case studies highlight the experience of five Chicago-based organizations that participated in the Academy and are continuing to actively implement the model within their workforce services. The recommendations are intended to help organizations new to the FOC model understand the benefits of integrating financial coaching with more traditional workforce services, how to overcome potential roadblocks, and what resources are required for implementation.