FAMILY PATHFINDERS OF TARRANT COUNTY

We seek to create a thriving community where individuals and families are self-sufficient. Pathfinders’ Mentoring and Financial Capability programs address issues of poverty through practices that yield long-term ROI by reducing the social costs associated with financial instability. These social costs include mounting debt, an inability to meet basic needs, poor job performance, poor health, decrease in children’s academic performance and even homelessness.

Mentoring and Financial Capability programming provides a pathway from poverty to self-sufficiency. As one family becomes economically stable, that success is passed on to the next generation breaking the cycle of generational poverty, thus creating a ripple effect of change that in turn builds stronger families and more connected communities.

Our mission of empowering individuals and families to find their path from poverty to self-sufficiency has created lasting change by helping vulnerable families achieve financial stability, build assets, decrease debt and save for the future. By implementing best and promising practices in Adult Mentoring and Financial Coaching our programs create behavior change that help low-income families actualize their potential and break barriers to economic mobility. Mentors and Financial Coaches walk alongside their clients as they learn how to better manage their money, attain career or education goals and become financially stable. These behavioral changes produce a great impact on lives in the short term, but an even greater impact in the long-term as individuals continue to grow toward permanent economic stability.

Pathfinders provides mentoring and financial coaching to help eliminate poverty and move families to economic stability. Recognized as a Best Practice by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Mentoring program matches trained volunteer mentors with those struggling to overcome the bonds of poverty, unemployment, homelessness or reentry after incarceration. Mentoring empowers clients to achieve self-sufficiency by creating actionable goals and addressing barriers to achieve financial stability. Through financial coaching and asset building, the Financial Capability program helps individuals attain economic stability using a client-driven approach that includes goal setting and action planning through coaching on budgeting, banking, borrowing and credit. By increasing savings, decreasing debt, increasing credit and committing to a budget, financial coaching is effective in preparing families to purchase their own home. As a recognized leader in financial coaching, we provide financial coaching to 20 Tarrant County nonprofit and community partners.

2019 Agency Outcomes:
90% of clients are better able to manage their finances
$1,762 is the average family savings increase
91% retained employment for three months or more
89% of mentoring clients increased their self-sufficiency by three points or more
9.6 is the average self-sufficiency score increase, significantly higher than the three-point projected outcome
58% reduction in recidivism for reentry clients

These outcomes highlight the impact of our programs and services on the lives of people who have become stable, contributing members of our community. These behavioral changes produce great impact on lives in the short term, but even greater impact in the long term as they grow towards permanent economic stability.