Building Financial Capacity

Once rent, power and groceries are paid, families often have little left over. As a result, they may turn to loan companies or make other poor or difficult financial decisions. This is where the CMM financial mentoring team of Linda Smith, Mali Toma, and Mike King steps in.

“While a lot of people know how to handle money, they may not have enough and so just trying to manage week by week is hard,” Linda says.

Our financial mentoring service is a little different to some others. In addition to making home visits, Linda, Mali and Mike tailor programmes for each person or family they assist. They also offer the Incentive Saver scheme to eligible clients.

“We look at what we can change and what people’s goals are,” Linda says. “We don’t give people a budget by which they have to live, we work with what they’re doing in their lives to try and make a difference. Everyone’s got strengths. What can we build on so that people are doing it themselves?”

“For me, it is empowering for people to actually see where they spend their money,” says Mali. “Money management is not easy and it’s more than just the figures, especially if it’s not something we were taught or if our parents didn’t have it.”

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