When I met Kimberly in 2021, she was ready to make a change in her life after a few years of battling a drug addiction. Her drug addiction started after her boyfriend of 12 years left her while she was pregnant along with a toddler. She wanted to quit for a long time, but addiction is hard. However, one day she decided she was done with being sick every morning and wanted her kids to have a better life. She knew no one in the drug world would be going anywhere in life and she didn’t want that for her future, therefore she stopped being friends with people involved in that lifestyle.
She was living at Family Promise and moving every week from one church to another. While she waited on her approval for housing, she needed to work on her credit and learn to be financially literate before stepping into a different world.
She did not know how to create a budget, understand credit or how to pay bills since she was a stay-at-home mom for a long period of time. She worked with an Employment Coach on her resume, then applied for jobs. She obtained employment at 2 Local Hals Housekeeping making $15 an hour. In the meantime, she applied for a secured credit card to work on her credit, she learned how to budget and save for emergencies. When we started working together her credit score was at 524 and it’s currently at 672 on Equifax and 716 on Transunion. She didn’t have a lot of accounts in collections, but paid off $856 that was in collections.
Her most recent accomplishment was starting her own Housekeeping Business. She met with the Weber Small Business Development Center and put her plans into actions, and it is now flourishing. It has become successful in such a short amount of time and has hired 5 employees.
In July 2019, Rachel entered the Riverdale RSAC program homeless, pregnant with twins, and struggling with addiction. Due to her unstable living conditions, she was placed in an inpatient treatment center, where she was referred to Cottages of Hope to attend Budget 101. After she attended, she connected with an employment/financial coach to find stable employment. After building her skilled-based resume and practicing her interviewing skills, she obtained a position as a customer service representative making $9.75 per hour.
While still housed at the treatment facility, she gave birth to twin girls and started looking to transition to her own place. Due to her criminal background, she was having a hard time locating housing but soon, she and her fiancé were able to rent a room from a friend.
While Rachel was adjusting to being a new mom, she was promoted to supervisor making $12.50 per hour. She was able to open a bank account for the first time, start a Christmas Fund for her daughters, and open a secured credit card, which brought her credit from 0 to 640. With the promotion, Rachel started focusing on paying off debts and has already paid $1961 towards her fines and was able to have her coach help her file her 2019 taxes using her refund to purchase a reliable used car.
By October 2020, Rachel graduated from the Riverdale RSAC program, achieved another raise to $13.00 an hour, and moved from renting a room to living in an apartment. She continues to work with her financial coach to pay off all her debt and increase her credit score.
L.T. came to Cottages of Hope in 2020 to get assistance with his birth certificate on a referral from a transitional facility. He was connected to an employment coach, where he built a skills-based resume to help overcome the barrier of justice involvement and his employment gap. He obtained a temporary, full-time production position, making $16.00 an hour. He started financial coaching and paid off his center fees of $768, had his taxes for 2020 prepared, and obtained the stimulus payments he had not received. With his coach's help, LT has been able to open an account at a credit union, get two secured credit cards to build positive credit, and save $1,570. He moved out of the transitional facility into an apartment in the summer of 2021.
Over the last two years, he built his credit score to 734 from an initial 0. He obtained a vehicle in 2021 and refinanced it in 2022. He reduced his interest from 8.5% to 1.99%. He moved from the temp service, making $16.00 an hour, to being hired permanently with the company earning $20.00 an hour. He has also received a raise. The raise has increased his yearly salary by $9,360. With his budgeting skills, he has been able to pay off his restitution of over $3,000. He has been out of incarceration for 1.5 years, significantly improving his life and future. He expresses gratitude for how far he has come and the skills he has developed.