As a financial empowerment coach and housing counselor primarily serving older adults, Keith Davis knew tax season would be different this year. To meet the challenge, Davis utilized the resources and information from his NeighborWorks online training to make key operational changes and address his clients' needs.
"The pandemic has changed the way we do things, specifically when you're meeting with older adults as well as individuals who have challenges with financial literacy," Davis says. "We've been trying to bridge the digital divide that typically happens with those individuals that fall into the 60 and older bracket."
Davis joined the staff of Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP) in the fall of 2019. Founded in 1993, the HUD-certified, Cleveland-based organization provides individuals in all stages of life with the resources they need to ensure their financial wellness and housing stability. They enhanced their commitment to helping older adults achieve this stability in 2017, when ESOP became a subsidiary of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, a nonprofit organization founded in 1908 to advance support for older adults and caregivers. Members of the 14-person ESOP staff have worked in the industry for years and possess a strong expertise in assisting their client base. Davis credits that experience as a key asset for connecting with the community.
As the nation put pandemic safety measures into place, ESOP strategically moved to seeing clients virtually and offered services by phone when individuals couldn't connect via the Internet. "We relied on the phone method – as we began this process, we conducted wellness calls to clients 55 and older – checking on availability of prescriptions, internet connections and computers/tablets, and other things they were dealing with financially so that they had what they needed," Davis says. When all else failed, ESOP staff took to meeting clients in the office parking lot to exchange paperwork and collect information.
In addition to their financial empowerment and homeownership counseling and education, ESOP also offers annual tax preparation services. Continuing their dedication to serving their community, staff members rolled up their sleeves, donned their masks and safety gear, and provided outdoor drive-thru submission of tax documents in the parking lot. Once ESOP staff finished reviewing the documents, clients returned to the parking lot to retrieve their information.
Davis credits the resources and strategies learned during NeighborWorks online training with helping him to quickly pivot and change how he provided services for his clients. He was able to take many of the trainings for free via scholarships.
NeighborWorks Online Training Scholarships – Underwritten by Wells Fargo
NeighborWorks America is the nation's leading trainer of community-development and affordable-housing professionals, awarding more than 18,000 certificates in fiscal year 2020. NeighborWorks has developed a strong curriculum of online courses that address a wide variety of issues and topics related to building capacity and strengthening counseling services, especially related to the COVID-19 pandemic and preparing counselors to take the HUD certification exam. "As we work to continue to be a trainer of choice, our online trainings are designed to address the changing and unique needs of the diverse communities we serve," says Cristi Ford, senior vice president of training for NeighborWorks America. Some of those trainings are available this week, during the NeighborWorks Virtual Training Institute.
Beginning in June 2020, the Wells Fargo Foundation partnered with NeighborWorks to provide
complimentary scholarships for these trainings. Over the span of a year, the foundation awarded more than 17,000 scholarships. During the pandemic, Davis took several courses on financial coaching techniques, homeownership and housing affordability for free via these scholarships. "I appreciate that NeighborWorks provided so much content to really handle current issues related to the pandemic," he says. In particular, Rental Counseling & Eviction Preventions in Times of Crisis provided key resources and strategies that helped Davis and the ESOP team serve their clients.
Davis also found Stress Management for Counselors to be a pivotal course. "It strategically focused on how to prioritize your day working from home and how to deal with the stress, and I felt that was just so on time because if we don't take care of ourselves, then we're not going to be well enough to continue to do this work," he says.
Putting Training into Practice
Davis says that NeighborWorks trainings have been instrumental in his professional growth because they introduced him to new ways of thinking. "In this industry, we don't always get a chance to really engage with other counselors, so I've found that engagement has been great," he says. "It has allowed me to see what others have done in their areas and then specifically say, ‘Well ok, maybe this is something that we can do in Cleveland, Ohio.'"
Just before COVID safety measures prohibited most in-person meetings, Davis attended a two-day NeighborWorks HUD exam preparation training course in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to taking the course, he had been studying for the exam but still felt like something was missing. He credits the two-day training with fully preparing him for the exam. "I felt like the instructor really demystified the test. He did a lot to dispel the thoughts that I had, and I was encouraged by him not to wait long and go ahead and take the test," Davis says. He took the HUD Counselor Certification exam a week after completing the class and successfully passed. HUD required housing counselors who provide counseling at HUD-participating agencies to receive official certification by Aug. 1.
Davis takes pride in helping his clients who need it most. Through his continued training and professional development, he is furthering that work—empowering clients to achieve financial stability and secure safe, affordable housing.
08/25/2021
