BOULDER CITY, Nev.–Kinecta FCU is preparing to launch a second year of financial literacy training with a group that comes with a healthy dose of skepticism and often difficult life experiences. And it’s totally worth it, Kinecta says.
During the CU Pride Leadership webinar, a representative of Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based Kinecta FCU explained how the credit union came to partner with Covenant House in Southern California. Covenant House is a large privately funded agency in the country providing shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and other services to homeless and runaway youth. The organization also provides care to homeless youth aged 14–20, with an objection of transforming them out of homelessness into independent adulthood.
Many of those living at and receiving services from Covenant House identify as LGBT!+.
Kinecta became involved with Covenant House a year ago as part of its broader DEI efforts, according to Kim Graham, VP-HR and talent development. Kinecta FCU staff have been providing financial literacy and other assistance to many youth who are often exposed to the subject for the first time in their lives.
“Forty percent of the youth at Covenant House are LBGTQ,” said Graham. “We developed the partnership and one of the things that really makes it work is they really want us as much as we want to help them. They don’t just want our money. They want our time and expertise and that makes it special.”
Graham said Kinecta’s staff has, in addition to financial counseling and guidance, also helped “brighten up” the Covenant House facilities. But it remains focused on its core mission.
The Trust Challenge
“We’re really trying to get even more enmeshed with the youth there and really become known as someone that they can trust and depend on to help them with building financial security, so that they can go out on their own get jobs and get apartments,” Graham told the meeting. “We've learned a lot along the way. There are a little bit of hiccups along the way. Some of the homeless don't have ID's. We’re trying to be flexible as possible. We want to put more incentives in for savings.”
Graham, who is a member of the Covenant House Advisory Board, said Kinecta is excited about making the second year of the program with Covenant House even better.
In response to an audience question, Graham said Kinecta FCU has established special accounts for the youth, including with no fees.
Reaching Out
“If we notice somebody needs help we make sure a personal financial advocate reaches out,” Graham said. “There is a bit of hand-holding up in front of this to get the youth comfortable in understanding why the credit union is the right place to be, that we are really here for them and not here to take their money. A lot of this is about building trust. They have had a lot of trauma and reasons to not trust. We really put a lot of work into that and that’s why these sessions are important as well.”
It Pays to be Patient
Rose Rather, development officer with Covenant House California, described the work Kinecta is doing as the first-of-its-kind for the organization. She said patience in developing the program has been especially key.
“(Kinecta) had a whole team that was always right by our side to answer any other questions,” Rather said, praising the credit union for its flexibility.
That has included finding ways to work with youth who do not have Social Security numbers.
“It’s so important for our youth, because they're not used to that security and us providing that and us living up to our word is how you build trust with them and that's really what kind of this program did and how it sort of took off,” Rather said.
As Covenant House and Kinecta prepare for the second series of financial literacy efforts, Rather encouraged other credit unions to explore needs in their own markets, saying it doesn’t have to be a financial literacy program; a CU could provide mentoring or just some on-site assistance or fundraising.
She urged CUs to do whatever they prefer as it will help build “your own connection.” Once onsite at whatever kind of organization a credit union partners with the needs will be apparent, Rather added.
‘Are You Sure?’
Asked what kinds of challenges Covenant House has encountered in partnering with Kinecta that it did not anticipate, Rather responded, “I would definitely say the biggest challenge would be youth patience, so as we talked about our first series the youth did not get their money until the way-end, so that's six months and we had a lot of youth saying well, ‘Are you sure we're gonna get the money or is it the money gonna come and where is the money and that sort of thing,’ because they like those incentives and rewards kind of right away…That’s something we pivoted to and adjusted for in the second series.”
How is Program Measured?
Graham said the program isn’t measured by standard ratios, such as tracking the number of accounts opened.
“We’re looking at this more holistically as making our presence in the LGBTQ+ community known,” said Graham. “We are getting out in the community and saying, ‘Hey we welcome everybody. That's why you should trust us, partner with us, we're here for you. We may get to a point where we want to start to count the number of members, but we're not there yet.”
Meanwhile, Graham said Kinecta is preparing to launch an LGBTQ+ ERG.
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