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Request for Proposals: Economic Security in Raleigh:
Thank you to everyone who applied to our request for proposals. We received 16 applications and are in the process of determining where our grant will go. Please
check back in mid-December to find out the recipient of our first ever
grant.
Focus '08 : Improving Economic Security & Financial Literacy for Young People and Low Income Individuals in our Community
This year, the beehive collective has chosen to take on the issue of economic security and financial literacy. We realize that economic security and financial literacy mean different things to different people. For the purposes of programming and grant allocation, the beehive collective has chosen to focus on three aspects of economic security: getting out of poverty, managing debt and building wealth. The beehive collective is particularly interested in how non-profit organizations can address the impact of these issues on young people living in Raleigh. Each of these three aspects has multiple facets, outlined below:
Getting out of poverty
Given that 1 in 10 young white folks, 1 in 4 African American folks, and 1 in 7 Hispanic folks live in poverty, strategies for getting out of poverty are a central focus of the Beehive Collective. These strategies include, but are not limited to:
o Training for new job skills
o Developing and accessing supportive housing
o Educating: literacy and language skills
o Advocating for a living wage
o Developing affordable mortgage programs
o Addressing gentrification issues
o Stopping predatory lending
o Providing health care to the uninsured and under-insured
Managing debt
Debt is an increasingly central issue in the discussion of economic security. Young people today are more in debt than ever before. This situation requires new strategies and programs for helping young people get ahead. These strategies include, but are not limited to:
o Being strategic about debt. What is good debt?
o Credit counseling
o Identifying responsible lending practices
o Preventing debt- e.g understanding how to live within one's means and avoiding over or under insuring one's self
o Developing a budget- how to prioritize spending
Building wealth
Building wealth often takes a back seat to the issues of poverty and debt when young people focus on their finances. However, long term wealth building is a critical step toward financial security so starting young promises the best chance of success. Wealth building strategies include, but are not limited to:
o Financial literacy education
o Planning for retirement
o Education regarding home ownership
o Investing in a socially responsible manner
o Fostering entrepreneurship
A message and resources From the Darron Stover Investment Workshop:
To the Beehive Collective,
I just wanted to thank you all for the invitation to speak to you last night about Socially Responsible Investing. i think it's very important for me to introduce and promote the idea to any group of people that will stand me up in front of them, whether I end up with potential clients or not. I appreciated your interest and your questions and I hope that you all found it to be a productive discussion.
I went through some of the resources I use to come up with some links that you might find useful. Particularly on the topic of where to bank, it's not always the easiest thing to research; but if it's important enough, you can make a pretty educated decision about who's going to do the most good (or least bad) with your deposits. A couple of these links might help with some of that info. Don't forget however, particularly with smaller local banks, you can just ask. There's also a link to an article on socially responsible credit cards.
http://www.self-help.org/
http://www.latinoccu.org/en
http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/realmoney/articles/creditcards.cfm
http://www.responsiblelending.org/
http://action.credomobile.com/
As far as looking for information on socially responsile investments, particularly funds, here are a couple other links. Last night, i tihnk I mentioned srfunds.com ... the one i was thinking of is socialfunds.com.
http://www.coopamerica.org
http://www.socialinvest.org
fund info: (http://www.socialinvest.org/resources/mfpc/)
http://www.socialfunds.com
As i mentioned last night, I'm very happy to have conversations with any of you, even if a client relationship may or may not be in the cards. i truly enjoy helping people get things figured out
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