Poder en Presupuesto

Poder En Presupuesto (Adult Financial Literacy Certificate Program)

As we are providing financial education and support for youth from birth to college, we want to support parents and adults in making informed financial decisions and achieving financial freedom for the whole family. With this two pronged approach to serve youth in the first tier and parents/caretakers in the second tier, the family can work together as a unit to support one another, learn healthy behaviors, and practice sound decision-making as a cohesive unit since these decisions can affect the whole family and as we’ve seen, the generations that follow.

Target audience: Adults 18 and over

Sunday Friends Scholars (Poder en Presupuesto Jr.)

Building good habits and changing behaviors take time, but are most successful when we start young. This is why our first tier starts with our program youth being part of our Sunday Friends Scholars, where we help low-income families build college savings by opening Youth Savings Accounts and providing complementary support to schools during the transition period from high school to college. At the minimum, these would include a children’s savings account, a CalKIDS account, and a Step Up Account offered by Excite Credit Union. Research shows that children with $500 or less saved for college are three times more likely to enroll and four times more likely to graduate than children without college savings accounts.

Youth Savings Accounts - Sunday Friends’ provides quarterly one-hour Zoom presentations in English and Spanish to give an overview of Step Up accounts, CalKids, and College In My Future (Children’s Savings Account program through Excite Foundation in partnership with FMSD).

Financial aid & college application workshops - These workshops are offered online via Zoom but also in-person at the FMSD District Services Building. We offer flexibility for time and location, support in English and Spanish, and bridge gaps. Financial aid workshops include a hands-on workshop that teaches students how to search for scholarships.

Scholarships from the community, for the community - We have heard repeatedly from our community that they need scholarships that they can apply to, provided by or through Sunday Friends. This is not limited to scholarships for college for graduating high school seniors or adults trying to get their GED, but there is an overwhelming need for scholarships for youth to experience opportunities they normally would not be able to afford. Scholarships to science camps, summer activities like swimming or dancing, or coding programs and tech camps have helped low-income families pursue STEM careers or at the very least, embrace their curiosity.

Target audience: Youth from low-income families ages 0-19