Kenna Poppler of Allianz Life understands the power of LISC’s Financial Opportunity Center® model and how it helps strengthen the financial futures of individuals and families across the Twin Cities. Since 2022, Allianz Life’s support has helped pave a path to sustainable financial and career success for nearly 3,000 people. Learn why working with LISC Twin Cities to reduce barriers to economic inclusion is so important to Allianz Life, and to Poppler.
Every individual deserves the opportunity to build a strong financial future for themselves and their families. With support from financial services provider Allianz Life, LISC’s Financial Opportunity Center® (FOC) network in the Twin Cities gives people the tools, skills, and networks they need to thrive.
LISC’s partnership with Allianz Life began in 2022, when the company awarded a three-year, $450,000 grant to support the Twin Cities FOC network. Operated by trusted community-based organizations, the FOC offers people access to employment training in high-growth sectors, career coaching to advance in employment, financial coaching and education to accelerate their asset building journey, and connections to income supports, such as food or childcare benefits, to alleviate pressure on tight household budgets.
To date, LISC’s partnership with Allianz Life has helped pave a path to resilience and sustainable financial and career success for nearly 3,000 people in the Twin Cities.
Allianz Life’s contribution to LISC and our FOC network goes beyond financial resources. The company’s data and analytics team created a visualization tool to help tell the story and impact of LISC’s FOC network, and the marketing team developed specialized outreach materials. Allianz Life also collaborated with LISC to organize an upcoming event exploring how cross-sector partnerships with community organizations, such as our FOC partners, can help employers in the Twin Cities address the current labor shortage.
LISC checked in with Kenna Poppler, director of community engagement at Allianz Life, to learn why this work is so important to the company, and to her.
LISC: Why has Allianz Life made a commitment to help strengthen the financial futures of individuals and families in the Twin Cities?
Poppler: Allianz Life’s mission is ‘we secure your future’, and we want to make sure our mission extends to the community members across the Twin Cities where we are headquartered. Through our community engagement approach, Allianz for Tomorrow, we partner with local nonprofit organizations to expand access to opportunities that support pathways to a strong financial future. That pathway includes access to basic needs, preparation for and access to gainful employment, and fostering the financial habits to build a secure future.
What makes LISC a good partner for Allianz Life?
Allianz Life makes investments in Twin Cities nonprofits that demonstrate long-term success in helping build pathways to financial security. LISC Twin Cities is an important partner for Allianz Life because they not only commit to increasing economic opportunities, but they also create strong frameworks for success. We support what they are doing through their Financial Opportunity Center® (FOC) network, which proves that making employment training, financial coaching, and access to public benefits available in one place increases stability for those affected by systemic inequities and increases their ability to build wealth. LISC has a wealth of knowledge and resources to offer not only to local community organizations delivering FOC services, but to employers looking to place people served by the FOC in hard to fill roles. We are excited to partner with LISC to make the important work of the FOC network possible and to showcase how cross-sector partnerships can make our community and businesses more economically inclusive.
What does it mean to you, on a personal level, to be helping reduce barriers to economic inclusion in the Twin Cities?
In the Twin Cities, racial disparities greatly affect the opportunities that people across our community have when it comes to education, jobs, and wealth building. It can be a challenge to figure out how to make the longest-lasting impact on these systemic issues, which is why partnering with LISC is so important to me. My favorite part of my job is providing the resources and connections that people need to be successful in their goals, and that is exactly how LISC operates. By offering funding, expertise, and networks to a wide variety of local nonprofits, LISC can make a bigger impact than any one of us could do alone.
