What We Do
The Center will empower struggling households to achieve financial stability, gain assets and overcome intergenerational poverty. Services include group financial education seminars, one-on-one financial coaching, credit improvement counseling, access to safe and affordable financial products, access to state and federal benefits, free tax preparation assistance (VITA), an incentivized savings program, asset ownership programs (IDA), and workforce development soft skills training.
UWSELA’s financial capability staff will model the new center’s programming after the J. Wayne Leonard Prosperity Center, now in its fourth year of serving clients in New Orleans and the surrounding area. Since its opening in 2017, the center:
- helped participants save an average of $1,500 within six months
and reduce their debts by $300+; - assisted with $3.9 million in asset purchases through the IDA Project;
- granted over $430,000 in mortgage and rental assistance;
- prepared 2,785 tax returns at no cost; and
- provided over 300 one-on-one coaching sessions and 30 financial
education workshops.
We’re fighting to put every person, in every community, on a path toward financial empowerment. By preparing people for quality jobs, growing incomes, and affording better health and education opportunities throughout Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes.
Who We Are
The first financial capability education center serving Northshore residents, the newly opened Northshore Prosperity Center from United Way of Southeast Louisiana will utilize a one-stop approach to help low-to-moderate income participants gain financial stability. Located in Covington next to the Northshore Food Bank Resale Shop, the Center will make financial education, asset ownership programs and free tax preparation assistance available to the public, while additional programming will be provided through partner referrals.
“We’ve seen firsthand the life-changing impact financial capability services can have on individuals who don’t have access to the tools and resources needed to generate personal wealth—a key to long-term financial stability,” says Chiquita Lattimore, UWSELA VP, Financial Capability. “Our new Prosperity Center will increase access to those supports and help more individuals take control of their finances and create lifelong plans for financial success.”
The Center will target the 48 percent of households in St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes living below the ALICE® (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) Threshold, which do not earn enough money to afford a basic survival budget. The Center’s well qualified financial capability staff includes Catera Cook, Administrative Specialist, Chiquita Lattimore, VP, and Ellenor Simmons, Manager, as well as Robin Jackson, Northshore VITA Site Coordinator.
COVINGTON
United Way of Southeast Louisiana’s Northshore Prosperity Center
834 N Columbia St || Covington, LA 70433 || 985.244.6580 || www.unitedwaysela.org/prosperitycenter
