Grant Impact Stories

CFT seeds nonprofit network to help low-income families

Since 2014, Communities Foundation of Texas has been working with 10 nonprofits across North Texas who are part of CFT’s Working Families Success Network (WFSN).

The overall goals of the WFSN are increased economic mobility for clients, including financial security and increased credit scores, as well as long-term improvements in financial capability and healthy spending habits.

Using data from the program’s first year results, CFT found that clients who receive multiple services have better outcomes than those who only receive one. Year two outcomes are focused on creating habits that will contribute to long-term financial capability as well as monitoring the impact of receiving services over an extended period of time.

BY THE NUMBERS

• The average WFSN client is a 30- to 40-year-old African-American woman with children, a high school education or GED, who is renting rather than owning a home or apartment.

• The average annual household income for clients who engaged in all three offered services increased by an average of $570 for single-year clients and by more than $780 for multiyear clients.

• Single-year clients receiving all three services saved an average of $405 per year. Multiyear clients receiving all three services saw an average increase in savings of more than $700.

• Before receiving the services, only 36 percent of multiyear clients reported they had enough income to exceed expenses. At check-in, that number increased to 62 percent.

• The number of multiyear clients who stated they had followed a budget went from 43 percent before starting services to 71 percent at check in.

To learn more about CFT’s work in improving economic security for working families, click here . To learn more about CFT’s Working Families Success Network of North Texas, click here.