Alive, Awake + Alert for Financial Health

I like coffee. A lot! Nothing beats the smell of freshly-roasted beans in the morning, sitting on a patio outside in the summer with a glass of cold brew, or paging through a good book in a cozy chair with a steaming mug by your side.

Something I don't like is how difficult life can be if you don't have the income, wealth, and resources to meet your daily needs and plan for a secure financial future. I probably don't have to tell you that our current economy doesn't work for everyone — far from it. More than 70% of Americans are constrained by income, have limited savings, and/or are challenged by debt. What’s more, about 1 in 4 households in the U.S. are excluded from the financial mainstream. They are disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. As a result, they are far less likely to have liquid emergency savings, are twice as likely to be unbanked, and are three times as likely to use costly alternative financial services like payday loans.

Join me in donating to Prepare + Prosper (P+P) to support our work with people, communities, and systems to break down barriers and develop solutions to real financial opportunity.

Here at P+P we’re working to change the financial landscape so that all Minnesotans have an equal opportunity to achieve financial success. I'll be honest: I've been drinking a lot of coffee over the last few months as I work on grant applications and reports in my role as Development Manager. And I have been thrilled to report on the amazing work of my colleagues as they've continued — throughout COVID-19 — to help people:

• File their taxes and receive the maximum refund for which they are eligible ($24.9 million in federal and state refunds for taxpayers in Minnesota in 2019), 
• Save for emergencies (P+P helped 908 taxpayers put more than $1.3 million into savings accounts or U.S. savings bonds in 2019), 
• Reduce their debt (during a recent six-month period in P+P's financial coaching program, participants decreased their debt by an average of $2,513),
• Make progress toward other financial goals (the average financial coaching participant increased their savings by $1,035 and their credit score by 16), and 
• Access financial products that build wealth rather than strip it (through the FAIR Initiative, which offers checking accounts with no account overdraft fees and no monthly minimum balance requirement)