Our work in financial stability

Having enough income to meet your basic needs is essential to living a good life. For families and individuals who are struggling to make ends meet, life can be arduous and stressful and lead to numerous other problems. At United Way of Miami-Dade, we focus on helping hard-working people increase their income and empower them to build lasting financial stability throughout their lives and into retirement.

Meeting basic needs

As many as one-third of working families nationwide do not make enough money to meet their basic needs. Add to that, challenges brought on by the current economic climate and it could push a family over the edge.

United Way-funded programs provide assistance to individuals and families in financial crisis through a combination of rent, mortgage, utility and food vouchers. This past year, 1,300 individuals and families received assistance, enabling them to meet their basic needs and prevent homelessness.

United Way also administers funds provided by the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), a federal program that helps people with economic emergency needs. This past year, $1.7 million worth of assistance was provided to individuals and families in our community for shelter, bulk food distribution, rent and mortgage assistance, as well as utility assistance.

Better money management to increase savings

Today, Florida is the eighth leading state in foreclosure filings, with one in every 152 properties receiving a foreclosure notice during the first quarter of 2011. Research also shows that as many as one-third of Americans live beyond their means.

United Way funds programs that provide financial education and counseling to help individuals budget and manage their money, and to prevent foreclosure. Just last year, 6,626 individuals received financial education and counseling on basic budgeting, credit card management, first-home purchasing assistance and foreclosure prevention. Another 1,400 individuals were provided with debt management plans, of which 444 are now debt-free.

Through a partnership with Bank of America, Walmart, United Way created a countywide public awareness campaign about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); a federal tax refund of up to $5,666. The campaign provided working individuals and families with information about EITC, eligibility requirements, how to claim it and where to get free tax preparation help. As a result of the countywide campaign, 7,158 tax filers received more than $10.9 million in tax refunds in 2010.

Increase income that leads to financial stability

These days, having a job and making enough money to support a family is not enough to secure a stable financial future.

In October 2009, United Way created the Center for Financial Stability in order to help individuals and families pave a path to financial independence.

The Center provides a full range of tools and resources necessary to help individuals and families increase and maximize their income, a critical step to achieving financial stability. It allows them to not only meet daily expenses, but have additional funds to begin the long-term process of building their savings. With their savings underway, these individuals will be in a better position to gain and protect their assets such as buying a house, starting a business or saving for college or retirement.

All clients receive personalized assistance from one of the Center’s financial coaches, who customize the services to meet their clients’ specific financial needs. Working together, the client and the financial coach develop a comprehensive plan to establish goals and set benchmarks necessary to reach financial stability.

The Center is one of two national pilot sites, with Bank of America as the founding partner, and is housed and operated by South Florida Urban Ministries.