Pueblo Financial Empowerment center obtains big grant to continue operations

The Pueblo Financial Empowerment Center secured a hefty grant to continue providing free financial counseling to Puebloans who seek more clarity or help with their finances.

The grant funding will help cover operational and programming costs at the empowerment center through 2025. Late last month, city council unanimously approved the $502,500 grant, which came from the Colorado Attorney General's Office.

The center launched in October with considerable buzz. There had been a years-long effort by city officials and staff to bring it online. Former Mayor Nick Gradisar touted the center’s potential, saying it helps change cities’ approach to alleviate poverty among their residents.

There are more than 30 financial empowerment centers in the U.S. Each of them have counselors who help people manage their finances, pay off debt, boost their savings and establish and build credit, all for free. Pueblo and Denver are the only Colorado cities that have one.

Pueblo’s empowerment center operates on varying times and days out of six locations: Housing Authority of the City of Pueblo, Mariposa Center for Safety, Posada of Pueblo, Pueblo Community Health Center’s East Side Clinic, Pueblo County DHS and the Pueblo Workforce Center. United Way of Pueblo County is the nonprofit provider for the center.

As of March 6, the Pueblo center had helped 40 clients since its launch. Julia Cordova, coordinator for the Pueblo Financial Empowerment Center, expects the center’s coaches will assist dozens more once citizens learn about it or are referred to the center.

“It’s been really impactful to see how the services that they’re accessing can empower them financially,” Cordova said. “Our coach, Blake (Smith), has been doing great work, meeting with the clients and talking with them about their goals.”

Some of the clients thus far have asked for help to secure bank access and build their credit. Others inquired about ways to pay down debt and plan for their future with savings accounts.

Most of the center’s current clients are returning for their second and third sessions, Cordova said. A portion of the referrals are coming from municipal court, which is giving those people an opportunity to reduce their fine or complete community service hours if they attend multiple sessions with an FEC coach.

Smith is the center’s only coach after Kelly Schermerhorn, its former program manager, left Pueblo. But Cordova and others involved with the center are in the process of hiring another coach.

During the center’s launch, Schermerhorn estimated that the center could help 200 to 300 clients over approximately 700 sessions each year.

If recent data is any indicator, some Puebloans may still be struggling with their finances. According to 2021 data from the Prosperity Now Scorecard, 21% of households in Pueblo didn’t have enough money to cover three months of living expenses if they lost their source of income.

That same data show that another 5% of Puebloans didn’t have a checking or savings account.

The Pueblo FEC tracks demographics and how much money it saves clients. Cordova said the center expects to have more representative data once it sees more people over the next several months.

She added that there has been a steady increase in clients since the center launched.

A 2017 evaluation of the financial empowerment model found that people who took the counseling “succeeded in opening bank accounts, reducing debt, improving credit and even saving for emergencies and their futures.”

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Chieftain reporter Josué Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Grant helps Pueblo financial empowerment center stay funded through 2025