Economic Justice Initiative
Overview
The mission of the FCADV'S Economic Justice Initiative is to provide training, information and resources to address the economic conditions that create barriers to the long-term independence and safety of survivors and their children. Ultimately, Economic Justice means fairness and equality for survivors to have the ability to make decisions about their lives and intimate relationships without fear of negative financial impact.
Financial instability is reported to be the number one obstacle for someone escaping domestic violence and the reason that survivors most often give for why they stay or have returned to their abuser. The ability to survive financially without the abuser, presents challenges, whether it be due to loss of income, a place to live, childcare, healthcare or other money issues, including access to credit.
Safe options include making informed decisions about how to avoid predatory lending and consumer scams, building good credit, accessing resources for affordable housing, financial education and for building assets through savings, homeownership or entrepreneurship. In addition to reforms in the criminal justice system and resources to create safe options for women and children in immediate danger that have occurred over the past decade, implementing economic justice strategies can improve the many social conditions that prevent long-term independence and safety for survivors.
As a part of the Economic Justice Initiative, FCADV provides on-site, regional and statewide trainings as well as technical assistance, to Florida's certified domestic violence centers. The training includes information on working with survivors to develop spending plans, avoid predatory lending, re-establish credit and/or banking relationships and learn about innovative programs such as matched savings and micro entrepreneurship.
Funded by the Allstate Foundation, FCADV also administers the Support, Training and Education for Personal Success (STEPS) projects, providing survivors with economic empowerment training, job readiness skills training and a matched savings program. Affordable housing is a complex challenge and FCADV works with Florida's domestic violence centers and public housing agencies to implement the VAWA housing protections and to identify additional housing resources for survivors.
For more information, contact the FCADV Director of Economic Justice by telephone at (850) 425-2749.
Resources for Advocates
Housing
Housing Rights for Survivors of Domestic Violence Living in Public
Housing or Using Vouchers. 2006.
www.legalmomentum.org
Finding Affordable and Accessible Rental Housing
www.floridahousingsearch.org
A housing locator system with an up-to-date database of all housing
units built with public funding (in English and Spanish). Information
is sorted by counties. Maintained by the
Florida Housing Finance Corporation, plans are underway to include privately financed housing.
Finding Housing Data for Florida
http://flhousingdata.shimberg.ufl.edu/
The Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing and its Florida Housing
Data Clearinghouse provides free access to a data and information
about housing in Florida, including data on demographics, housing
market characteristics, affordable housing needs and housing stock.
Data includes housing needs of Florida's farmworkers, elderly,
homeless, persons with disabilities and extremely low income
households. You may also reach the Center by calling 800.259.5705.
Financial Education
There are a number of programs that provide financial education on a broad range of topics including gaining an understanding of basic financial services, developing money-management skills and learning how to use banking services effectively. The Money Smart Training Program, developed by the FDIC, is available free of charge to organizations to assist consumers. The curriculum is available on CD ROM in English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Braille, and Large Print. The modules include an introduction to bank services and credit, how to choose and keep a checking account, how to keep track of money, consumer rights, factors affecting credit, saving, using credit cards, and homeownership.
The Allstate Foundation and the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) are piloting an economic empowerment curriculum, Moving Ahead Through Money Management, that is specifically geared toward survivors. For more information, contact the FCADV Economic Justice Training Specialist at FCADV by telephone (850) 425-2749 or NNEDV at economicjustice@nnedv.org.
Earned Income Tax Credit
Coalitions in Florida such as Prosperity Campaigns have developed effective ways to promote existing tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Childcare Tax Credit. Campaigns in each county offer free tax preparation services and educate the public on how to save or spend their refund.
Credit, Predatory Lending and Domestic Violence
National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women (VAWnet) (www.vawnet.org)
VAWnet provides a special collection of articles, bibliographies,
fact sheets, laws and court action, papers, regulations, reports and
surveys to assist advocates working on and interested in credit
issues related to ending violence against women. Information
includes credit counseling, credit discrimination, credit and housing,
predatory and payday lending, and more.
National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women's Credit page.
They can also be reached by phone at 1-800-537-2238;1-800-553-2508 (TTY)
Free Credit Report (www.annualcreditreport.com
Many companies advertise on television and on the Internet that they
offer "free" credit reports, when there are requirements to sign-up
for other services for a specific fee. There is one central site
that provides a truly free credit file disclosure, commonly called a
credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide
consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Matched Savings Programs (Individual Development Accounts)
Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are matched savings accounts that enable low-income American families to save and build assets. IDAs encourage savings efforts by offering them 1:1, 2:1, or more generous matches for their own deposits. IDAs reward the monthly savings of working-poor families who are trying to buy their first home, pay for post-secondary education, or start a small business. IDA programs are implemented by community-based organizations in partnership with a financial institution that holds the deposits, and funded by public and private sources. Populations that have benefited from participation in IDA programs include former welfare recipients, youth in disadvantaged urban and rural schools, recent refugees, and the working poor. This approach, adapted to meet the needs of survivors, can provide a source of funds, previously unavailable.
The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) www.cfed.org
The Center for Social Work Development at the George Warren Brown
School of Social Work, Washington University
http://gwbweb.wustl.edu/csd/asset/idas.htm
Microenterprise and Small Business Development
Microenterprise provides opportunities for survivors to start their own small business to supplement their income or as their main employment.
The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the national association of community-based organizations that provides entrepreneurial education, access to capital, and support to aspiring and active low-income entrepreneurs. Their website provides a comprehensive overview of how micro loans work. The most common definition of microenterprise is a business with five or fewer employees requiring $35,000 or less in start-up capital. Microenterprise represents a path from poverty to financial security for many low-income individuals.
AEO estimates that there are over 20 million such businesses in the U.S. www.microenterpriseworks.org
The Wyoming Women's Business Center began as a program within the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The Wyoming Women's Business Center's loan program was started to provide access to funds (from $500 to $10,000) for those unable to get loans through traditional means to help fund business start-ups or expansions. www.wyomingwomen.org
FLORIDA COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
425 Office Plaza Dr. • Tallahassee, FL 32301
Phone (850) 425-2749 • FAX (850) 425-3091
Hotline: 1-800-500-1119 • TTY Hotline: 1-800-621-4202
All calls to FCADV and services provided by FCADV are confidential.
FCADV and its 42 member centers are committed to serving people living with disabilities.
