Creative collaboration brings access to financial, housing resources in rural counties

Jenna Johnson, Marketing & Development Director, Origin SC
Kristin Bastian, Financial Education Manager, Origin SC

Challenge: The rural counties of Dorchester and Berkeley faced the greatest number of foreclosures in the state of South Carolina. Remote and underserved, they also struggled with multiple issues, including parenting, literacy, and GED prep. How could organizations based in Charleston work together to provide services to these remote counties?



Since 1888, Family Services, Inc. (now doing business as Origin SC) has provided financial and housing advocacy, counseling, and education services to individuals in South Carolina and beyond. Most of its financial education and homeownership services are targeted to three counties in the greater Charleston area, also known as the Tri-County area: Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties.

Origin SC reached out to Trident United Way and Goodwill Industries of Lower South Carolina in a collaborative effort to bring multiple in-person services to the more rural sections of the Tri-County. As a result, the three organizations opened two multi-service Prosperity Centers, one in Moncks Corner (Berkeley County) in 2013 and one in Summerville (Dorchester County) in 2014. The Centers provide financial education and housing counseling, workforce development, and basic needs assistance in one place at no charge.

At the Centers, staff would meet individually with visitors about financial hardships, utility cutoffs, evictions and foreclosures, homelessness, credit counseling, home buying, debt management, job assistance, and more. However, progress was slow in the beginning as the Prosperity Center partners worked through logistics such as technology, staffing, and office space. The marketing teams from each organization stayed in constant communication and strategized a new brand and marketing plan for the Prosperity Centers. Then once a manager was hired to do outreach, the Centers saw an increase in community interest. With earned media attention, the numbers grew and so did the workshop offerings, such as Origin SC's Making Ends Meet and Foreclosure Prevention workshops.

In February 2013, only nine individuals sought out services at the Berkeley Prosperity Center. However, by the following December, 72 people had used the Center's financial and housing services. In 2014, the Prosperity Centers served nearly 500. By the end of 2015, the Prosperity Centers served more than 2,300 individuals with more than 6,100 different services.

Early on, the partners found that more services were needed in areas such as parenting, literacy, GED prep, expungement, and benefits. They invited other nonprofit organizations to provide their services at the Centers and eventually, the Alston Wilkes Society, Family Corps, Trident Literacy Association, and SC Thrive joined them in this effort.

Most individuals who visit the Centers need more than one service or resource. Such was the case for Anne, who was unemployed and behind on her mortgage when she first went to the Prosperity Center in December 2013. After the Center's foreclosure counselor helped her achieve approval through the SC HELP foreclosure prevention program, Anne caught up on her mortgage and received monthly assistance until she exhausted the $36,000 provided by SC HELP. At that point, Anne only had a part-time job teaching a fitness class and wasn't able to keep up with her payments. Origin SC completed a modification packet and referred her to Goodwill's staff counselor in the Center to help her improve her resume and look for work. Anne went to the Berkeley Prosperity Center a few times a week to do job searching while also receiving guidance on her modification from Tammy Jones, her Origin SC financial coach. By the end of 2014, she gained full-time employment and was on her way to financial and housing stability.

Throughout the collaborative process, Origin SC learned two very critical lessons:

1. It takes time to see sustainable results from a new business line, product or service.
2. Offering multiple services in one location is not only efficient, it can also result in greater success in achieving financial stability.

There is no reason for all of the different organizations promoting financial stability to "reinvent the wheel" when there are other organizations that are already experts in providing those services. And when individuals can receive multiple services in one place, they will be more successful attaining financial stability. They do not just receive referrals to make appointments with other organizations; they can receive those services on the spot. All of the services provided by the different organizations are important and help individuals daily at their respective locations; however, when services are united in reaching a similar goal, everyone wins.

Success is not guaranteed from the beginning. Any new product or service takes great effort to become successful. The first year did not provide the results that Origin SC expected or projected. But Origin SC and its partners saw that the need was still there and they believed the Centers could be a success. Instead of closing the doors early on, Prosperity Center persevered with a three-point strategy:

• Hiring a motivated Center manager.
• Expanding the services menu.
• Fostering a creative marketing collaboration.