PBMares Cares 2023 Grant Recipients

II. Economy

Financial Stability | Provide a pathway to economic success

2023 (Fall Cycle): Grants awarded in this category totaled $15,000.

Commonwealth Catholic Charities
Central Region (Fredericksburg | Harrisonburg | Richmond | Warrenton)

This program assists households in need to develop and access the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to achieve self-sufficiency and financial/housing stability. Through one-on-one counseling, HFC staff help households accomplish concrete goals like avoiding foreclosure, creating a workable budget, and improving credit scores.

Trained caregivers assist individuals in crisis with getting their financial responsibilities back in order after experiencing unexpected emergencies.

The Pathway of Hope program benefits low-income families by creating a customized plan to achieve financial stability and self-sufficiency with consideration for their unique needs, challenges, and goals.

II. Economy

Financial Stability | Provide a pathway to economic success

2023 (Spring Cycle): Grants awarded in this category totaled $35,000.

Achievable Dream Middle and High School
Coastal Region (New Bern | Morehead City | Newport News | Norfolk | Williamsburg)

Anchoring the SAME curriculum are six classes known as “social rotations” that take place during students’ extended time: Speaking Green® (workforce communication), Etiquette, Ethics, Peaceful Conflict Resolution, Mindfulness, Meditation, and Healthy Living, and STEM/Financial Literacy. Beginning in third grade, students open mock checking accounts; they are given a checkbook and register and can accumulate and track points earned for correct uniforms, good citizenship, and academic accomplishment. Students’ points directly translate into dollars used to buy supplies and a variety of rewards at the school bookstore. This process teaches students how to track deposits and withdrawals, balance checkbooks, and financial responsibility. As students enter and progress through middle and high school, more advanced topics are integrated into the course, such as borrowing, saving, investing, maintaining good credit, 401Ks and other retirement plans, choosing and managing credit cards, homeownership, and equity.

Eggleston Services
Coastal Region (New Bern | Morehead City | Newport News | Norfolk | Williamsburg)

This grant will fund a program to help support those in the disabled community to gain the skills and knowledge to make better decisions with their finances and assist them in obtaining the goals of living independently in an apartment, providing themselves with necessities, and more.

Hampton Roads Community Action Program
Coastal Region (New Bern | Morehead City | Newport News | Norfolk | Williamsburg)

HRCAP educates residents on the basics of budgeting and credit. Participants attend workshops that demonstrate how to determine available household income and calculate monthly household expenses, empowering them to make better choices when spending money. Following the educational component, program participants receive one-on-one assistance from a certified counselor. They work with the counselor to create a realistic budget based on their income and expenses, and will be given tips on how to prioritize spending and increase income. The counselor will assist them in establishing a plan that will help them reach their financial goals, and will review their financial documents and credit reports in order to give advice on how best to improve their credit, putting them on the road to homeownership or educational opportunities.

Horizons Hampton Roads, Inc.
Coastal Region (New Bern | Morehead City | Newport News | Norfolk | Williamsburg)

Horizons Hampton Roads focuses on creating opportunities for students from under-resourced communities that promote academic excellence and encourage workforce development. Students experience an intensive 6-week academic, enrichment summer program and year-round high school program aimed at reversing the “summer-slide” and addressing achievement gaps in our education systems.

Junior Achievement of Central Maryland
Northern Region (Baltimore | Fairfax | Rockville)

JA BizTown combines classroom lessons and resources with a capstone experiential experience that integrates financial education and work/career readiness into the elementary classroom so that students have a solid foundation of business, economics, and the free enterprise system.

Junior Achievement of Greater Hampton Roads
Coastal Region (New Bern | Morehead City | Newport News | Norfolk | Williamsburg)

Providing classes in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship which will inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.

Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area
Central Region (Fredericksburg | Harrisonburg | Richmond | Warrenton)

This grant will help to provide one-on-one and small group tutoring for adults in the following areas: Basic reading, writing, and numeracy skills, English Language Learners (ELL), Computer skills, Financial literacy, Workplace literacy, Citizenship preparation and family literacy through a dedicated team of qualified volunteer tutors assists adults in building their literacy skills to be better prepared for today’s job market, to get a promotion, and to be more engaged in the community.

Micah
Central Region (Fredericksburg | Harrisonburg | Richmond | Warrenton)

Step Forward offers a menu of services geared towards income development for both street homeless and housed, formerly-homeless clients. The program offers job support, benefits support, and workforce development connections as part of Micah’s homeless stabilization efforts.

Our Community Place
Central Region (Fredericksburg | Harrisonburg | Richmond | Warrenton)

This grant will help fund financial literacy classes for recently housed homeless persons, and for case management to help keep people housed from returning to homelessness. Placing people with histories of chronic homelessness, developmental trauma, serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders into housing is a huge challenge. Including the “Support Group for the Housed,” which includes a financial literacy class to help clients learn how to utilize their money to the best of their ability so that they may continue on the path to independence and self-sufficiency.

Samaritan House
Coastal Region (New Bern | Morehead City | Newport News | Norfolk | Williamsburg)

The grant will help to assist each client prior to signing a lease of their own for permanent housing with how to budget their money, pay bills, prioritize and save money. Case managers work individually with each client and their family to ensure success that will enable our clients to remain permanently housed and financially stable.

Arc of Augusta
Central Region (Fredericksburg | Harrisonburg | Richmond | Warrenton)

Competence in financial literacy is difficult to achieve under the best circumstances. It is even more difficult to achieve this standard when having to navigate the different benefit programs that often come along with a developmental disability. In addition to the fundamentals of financial literacy, such as; budgeting and saving, individuals with developmental disabilities also learn how to budget to prepare for a future where they may need additional care, how to save money but do it safely to avoid losing their insurance eligibility. Financial literacy is essential in navigating the services that typically accompany a diagnosis of a developmental disability. The project is a written resource, accompanied by a youtube video, that will give a clear, comprehensive guide to achieving financial literacy while navigating the resources and benefits specific to developmental disabilities in Virginia.

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater
Coastal Region (New Bern | Morehead City | Newport News | Norfolk | Williamsburg)

The mission of the Be A Reader literacy project (BeAR), a program of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, is to coordinate a community-wide effort of volunteers to help at-risk, struggling readers acquire the skills and love for learning that lead to personal happiness and future success. Cultivating childhood literacy can be a powerful tool in setting individuals up for success in life—of which financial literacy is paramount. As reported by the non-profit organization Concern Worldwide: Literacy is a powerful tool against poverty.