finEQUITY

We served formerly incarcerated community members and their families on their journey to navigate financial barriers and establish credit. First, we provided community members with a suite of online, no-cost, on-demand financial capability services to help community members returning home from prison or jail achieve critical financial milestones in service of their reentry journey, such as building credit, monitoring their credit report, meeting with a financial coach, creating a debt management plan, and paying down debt. We also enrolled community members who are credit invisible (with no previous credit history) in our credit-establishing loan service. Through this service, we provided participants with a $100 no-interest, no-fee loan that is paid back over 6 months and establishes a healthy credit score in the mid-600s. In 2023, 100% of community members who completed repayment of finEQUITY's loan established a healthy credit score.

We served over 105 currently incarcerated community members across more than 20 NY State prisons with our post-mail-based financial education correspondence course. This 8-part course covers strategies on navigating credit and debt barriers upon returning home from prison.