Alexia Watkins is a cath lab nurse and a single mom to a 12-year-old daughter who is a leukemia survivor. But despite her successes in many areas of her life, for her, money meant anxiety. Alexia grew up middle class, with parents for whom saving was a non-negotiable—but wasn’t shown how to get there herself.
“All they taught me was I needed to invest in my work-related accounts. And at the time, when I was 22, I didn’t know what any of that meant. I didn’t know what a budget was, how to stick to one,” she said.
She found out about Single Parent Alliance and Resource Center, an organization that partners with us to provide Financial Achievement Clubs to single moms, through her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sisters.
Participants in this unique financial literacy program meet monthly for lessons on budgeting, credit, loans, mortgages, and even the emotional side of money. Their financial literacy training ends with an opportunity to earn a savings match for saving consistently throughout the six-month program.
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Participating in the financial literacy program alongside like-minded women at SPARC each month eased Alexia’s anxiety around money. She learned the importance of saving every month, and how to improve her credit, ultimately helping her feel like her financial goals were in reach. Now, it’s changing her daughter’s relationship with money too.
“I didn’t realize that through my language, I was projecting that fear onto her. She used to always fear that we didn’t have enough to do X, Y, and Z, and not understanding why. But now she’s learning that it’s not that we don’t have it. We have money. We just have to budget for the things she wants,” Alexia said. “She’s learning how to save for big goals.”
Building financial resilience, one family at a time
Today, more than one third of U.S. families would be unable to cover a $400 emergency, something that our Financial Achievement Clubs aim to solve. If participants save $100 a month during the six-month course, United Way of Greater Atlanta matches their savings, and then provides an additional $100 bonus for raising their credit scores 30 points—meaning participants exit the program with $1300 saved for unexpected expenses.
Financial literacy program graduates are set up to cover that next emergency and still have a healthy buffer leftover without having to replenish their savings right away.
“I’m constantly surprised looking at my bank account,” said Alexia’s classmate Cherie Shipman, who was used to having to pull out of her savings account constantly, because, well, as a single mom, life happens.
Now, she puts money into savings out of habit, and keeps it there. She was hugely inspired looking around at the end of club graduation, seeing how many others just like her have done the same.
“You might be doing this by yourself, but in reality, you’re not by yourself. You have community, you have other family members who are here to support you along the way,” said Alexia. “I feel like a lot of single moms, we want to be rescued by another financial household contributor, but you can do it on your own. You can do it with the correct tools.”
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According to SPARC director Joy Monroe, single parents, by very definition, are at an immediate financial disadvantage in a world built for two-income families. The moms she works with are raising a family on less, typically with no formalized financial literacy training, all while still trying to save. But the tools that they acquired with what they learned at Financial Achievement Club equip them to deal with life as it continues to happen.
“It doesn’t mean that you graduate from Financial Achievement Club and you live happily ever after,” said Joy. “But it’s like the difference between swimming and things that [before the class] would take you under. But now that you have these tools, you’re still in the ocean and the waves are still coming, but now you’re swimming.”
We’re so thankful to our partners like SPARC who host Financial Achievement Clubs all across our 13-county region, empowering community members to take the next step towards financial security.
“I do want to say thank you to anyone who leads, teaches, volunteers, or donates,” said Cherie. “You’re not just donating to a group of single parents. You’re making that investment in our futures, and I am living proof that that investment multiplies.”
Last year, we helped more than 190 families celebrate financial achievement and collectively save more than $190,000. If you would like to invest in the futures of moms and families like Cherie’s and Alexia’s, you can show your support by donating toward this exciting financial literacy program today.