A little background on an exciting project called Living Cities that Burst for Prosperity is a partner – the following write-up is from our Associate Director, Diana Dollar, who was in Washington DC last week to learn more about the vision and purpose of this national program.
The City of Seattle has invited Burst for Prosperity to participate in a national Living Cities pilot project that focuses on incorporating financial empowerment strategies into the city’s Homeless Prevention Program (HPP). Seattle is one of two cities selected (the other is Louisville, Kentucky) by Living Cities to explore innovative approaches to expanding savings opportunities in low-income communities. Living Cities is an innovative collaborative of 22 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions that are helping shape federal funding programs, redirecting public and private resources, and helping communities to build homes, stores, schools, community facilities and more.
Burst recently attended a Living Cities meeting in Washington DC to learn the vision and purpose of this national program. Living Cities revealed their dedication to promote asset building nationally, and to transform service delivery systems. During this convening, they set in place methods for the cities of Seattle and Louisville to address greater systems change in both programs and services to achieve a measure of scale in transforming the entire city, region, state, or neighborhoods.
To advance this work, the City of Seattle Human Services Department will conduct a $15+ million Request for Investment process for a broad array of Homeless Intervention and Housing Stability strategies to be implemented in 2013, including shelters, day programs, transitional housing, and rapid re-housing. These services will target homeless families including children, youth and young adults, single men, and the chronically homeless. Strategies found to be effective in implementing financial empowerment services in HPP will be adapted and incorporated into the broader service delivery system for homeless people.
As a member of the City of Seattle’s Living Cities steering committee, Burst will provide all HPP case managers with the Financial Coaching for Prosperity training, and, shall complete an evaluation of the financial coaching so that the team can explore further the impact of financial coaching as a means of transforming service delivery to families at-risk of homelessness and to see the successful development of innovative approaches to transforming municipal systems that serve low-income communities.
Pretty exciting, right? If you want to learn more, you can contact Diana at dianad@chsw-wa.org.