New Pueblo center offering free financial counseling and coaching

The city of Pueblo and Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund announced Tuesday the launch of the former’s financial empowerment center that will provide free financial counseling to Puebloans.

Representatives from the city and United Way of Pueblo County hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony inside the Pueblo County Department of Human Services to commemorate the financial empowerment center’s launch. United Way in March was approved as the nonprofit provider for the center, which will offer free one-on-one financial counseling and coaching to people who are interested.

“Financial stability of our residents is critical to lifting our citizens out of poverty and to the success of our community,” Mayor Nick Gradisar said during the ceremony Tuesday. “Financial empowerment centers are changing how cities work to alleviate poverty by giving low-income Americans tools they need to build a stable financial future.”

The ceremony brought a conclusion to a years-long effort by city officials and staff to introduce a financial empowerment center in Pueblo. There are more than 30 centers in the U.S. and each of them have counselors who help people manage their finances, pay off their debt, boost their savings and establish and build credit, all for free.

"One of our key pillars of focus at United Way of Pueblo County is economic mobility and opportunity," Shanna Farmer, the organization's president and CEO, said during the ceremony. She added that the Pueblo FEC is an expansion of that mission.

Denver and Pueblo are the only cities in Colorado to have a FEC. Pitkin County is working towardi launching its own program with the FEC model.

Pueblo’s FEC will operate out of six co-locations and councilors will be at each on varying days at varying times Monday through Friday. Those locations are the 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.

People who are interested in having a session with a counselor can schedule an appointment on United Way of Pueblo County's website.

How the center could help Puebloans

A 2017 evaluation of the centers by CFEF found that people who took the counseling “succeeded in opening bank accounts, reducing debt, improving credit and even saving for emergencies and their futures.” CFEF also reported that the center “helped change the way they approach anti-poverty programs.”

“Growing up in Pueblo in Bessemer with very limited means, (financial health) wasn’t something that was spoken about and how to accomplish that,” Duane Nava, president and CEO of the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday.

“Luckily for me, I had grandparents who raised me and taught me the importance of opening a checking account and managing my money. But I look back and the people and friends I grew up with, the financial struggles they still face today, if they would have had something this powerful in this community back then, (I wonder) where they could have been today compared to where they are today.”

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. At least 5% of Puebloans didn’t have a checking or savings account and 13% had those accounts but used non-bank services, payday loans and pawn shops.

Kelly Schermerhorn, program manager for the Pueblo FEC, told the Chieftain that since the center’s “soft” launch in early October, five people reached out to inquire about or schedule a session. Some of them participated in one and at least one person expressed concern that they would have to file bankruptcy, but Schermerhorn assured them they could avoid that.

“If we just give them the tools, we have a couple of successes, maybe a couple of shortcomings, they see the importance of staying on track and then they just do it. This is life changing,” Schermerhorn said of the counseling’s potential to alleviate stress for people who are experiencing difficulties with their finances.

Schermerhorn said based on CFEF’s estimates on the FEC model, the center could help 200 to 300 clients over approximately 700 sessions each year.

People who returned for multiple sessions at other centers were more likely to achieve their desired outcome, according to the 2017 evaluation.

Schermerhorn, who has worked decades in banking, is one of two counselors who are part of the Pueblo FEC team. Blake Smith is the other and can speak English and Spanish. A third counselor is expected to join the pair following the recent departure of another counselor.

Chieftain reporter Josue 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: Pueblo launches financial counseling service. Here's what to know