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Featured Success

Jennifer

Jennifer

When Jennifer’s three-year relationship with the father of her five-year-old daughter became abusive in 2016, she and her daughter moved out of the apartment the three shared and into the home of a friend temporarily. Jennifer’s goal was to find a new residence for her and her daughter, but that proved challenging because the 28-year-old preschool teacher earned $12 an hour and had broken her apartment lease when she and her daughter moved. As a result, she was unable to qualify to lease a new apartment. After struggling through her situation for two years, she was referred to Interfaith Family Services in January 2018.

At Interfaith, Jennifer worked with both a success coach and a finance coach. Success coaches are staff members who help clients set budgets, personal and family goals, debt reduction plans and a savings target. Financial coaches are volunteers who support clients’ work toward meeting financial goals and share the FDIC Money Smart financial education program with clients. Clients meet with each coach once a week as they work toward self-sufficiency. With the coaches’ support, Jennifer set three goals: to pay off her broken-lease/eviction debt of $1,500, save $2,000 and complete her associate degree, for which she only lacked two classes to earn. The goals were designed to work together as Jennifer progressed through Interfaith’s program. For one, earning her degree would help her increase her wages with her employer. In addition, each time she paid towards her debt reduction goal, she also paid toward her savings goal.

Jennifer graduated from Interfaith’s program in September 2018 and exceeded her goals. She completed two online courses to earn a degree in child development. As a result, she earned a $2-an-hour raise from her employer. Jennifer always added more than what was expected to meet her debt-reduction and savings targets, so she paid off more than $2,600 in debt in six months and went on to save more than $4,600. She left Interfaith with the ability to apply for and get approved for an apartment to set up a new home for her and her daughter. Dwell With Dignity, a partner organization of Interfaith, furnished and decorated Jennifer’s new apartment so she and her daughter could have the fresh start Jennifer worked so hard to achieve.

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Elsa

Elsa

Elsa is a survivor of domestic violence. She married a man who abused her. She thought the abuse would stop after the birth of their son, but it didn’t. One day in March 2018, after a confrontation with her husband that left her with significant injuries, she scooped her 3-month-old son into her arms and left her marriage and her home. Elsa went straight to a local hospital to get treated for her injuries and then, she and her son moved into a shelter.

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Cindy

Cindy

When “Cindy” came to The Women’s Center, she was working full-time at a local convenience store. Cindy was pregnant, and wasn’t able to afford career training that would support herself and her child. Through participation in The Women’s Center WFS program, Cindy began training as an Opthalmic Assistant Program through Tarrant Community College, and has received employment and financial coaching that has supported her in meeting goals such as paying off credit cards and increasing her credit score from 667 to 728. Cindy has been able to get a loan for a car, and plans to participate in a home buying program within the next year.

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Eric

Eric

Eric was a successful electrician. But his career came to a halt when a serious car wreck left him injured and out of a job. He turned to Metrocrest Services, whose mission is to help people in crisis get back on their feet and sustain their independence. There he got financial coaching and employment counseling. That led to his acceptance into Per Scholas, a local nonprofit IT training program. Finishing near the top of his class, Eric landed a job immediately after his certification. Now he works with Microsoft and continues to work with his coach at Metrocrest to build his financial future.

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Jennifer

Jennifer

When Jennifer’s three-year relationship with the father of her five-year-old daughter became abusive in 2016, she and her daughter moved out of the apartment the three shared and into the home of a friend temporarily. Jennifer’s goal was to find a new residence for her and her daughter, but that proved challenging because the 28-year-old preschool teacher earned $12 an hour and had broken her apartment lease when she and her daughter moved. As a result, she was unable to qualify to lease a new apartment. After struggling through her situation for two years, she was referred to Interfaith Family Services in January 2018.

Read more
Jonathon

Jonathon

Jonathon was in a tough situation when he enrolled in The Women’s Center of Tarrant County’s integrated services partnership program with Family Pathfinders of Tarrant County in October 2015. He was unemployed, his credit history was thin and he had neither a checking nor savings account at a bank. When he enrolled in the program, Jonathon said he wanted to get a job with higher pay than his previous employment and improve his credit score. To build a plan toward these goals, Jonathon worked with a Pathfinders financial coach through the partnership’s career development “fast track” workshops and entered skills training for information technology (IT) security.

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