Video: The Transformative Power of Financial Coaching for Low-Income Parents

Ms. Diaz — a sin­gle moth­er of three chil­dren under the age of five — was unem­ployed, anx­ious and strug­gling to make ends meet.

For­tu­nate­ly, her sto­ry took a dramtic turn toward a brighter future once she began work­ing with a per­son­al finan­cial coach.

Ms. Diaz is one of thou­sands of par­ents in Delaware who are improv­ing their mon­ey-man­age­ment skills, estab­lish­ing cred­it and build­ing sav­ings with the help of two finan­cial coach­ing pro­grams: $tand By Me, which the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion sup­ports, and Par­ents as Teach­ers.

Ms. Diaz and her sto­ry — and the ben­e­fits of finan­cial coach­ing for low-income par­ents like her — are the focus of a new TEDxWilm­ing­ton talk by Irene Lee, who leads the Casey Foundation’s fam­i­ly eco­nom­ic suc­cess work, and Whit­ney Williams, who super­vis­es the Par­ents as Teach­ers pro­gram in Delaware’s New Cas­tle Coun­ty. Their talk spot­lights the impor­tance of the three C’s — capac­i­ty, con­fi­dence and coach­ing — in help­ing par­ents take pos­i­tive finan­cial action.

“It’s that last C, coach­ing, where the real mag­ic hap­pens,” says Lee. ​“Finan­cial coach­ing is help­ing fam­i­lies devel­op their finan­cial grit to build brighter futures for their chil­dren, no mat­ter where they live or what their circumstances.”

By work­ing with a coach, she says, par­ents in Delaware are:

• increas­ing their savings;
• reduc­ing their debt;
• improv­ing their cred­it scores;
• pay­ing their bills on time; and
• gain­ing a greater sense of con­fi­dence in man­ag­ing their finan­cial lives.

“This mod­el of finan­cial coach­ing fits into a broad­er goal: To pro­mote health and well­ness in all aspects of our fam­i­lies’ lives,” says Williams. ​“In their finances, yes, but also their emo­tion­al and social well-being. We believe that’s what it takes to help them thrive.”