April 2016
 
Greetings! 

I just laugh when people tell me we lend to "high risk" people.   We don't see it that way.  We lend to people who are resilient, hardworking and creative.  When we lend to them we are giving them a chance - just like we would want someone to do for us.  Think of all the times someone gave you a chance.  So much of our social and economic advancement is based on that simple premise; someone had faith, saw hope, and gave us a chance.   We've raising up the importance of this social compact in our annual celebration, Take a Chance, Change a Life.  Please join us on June 2nd as we showcase amazing women who were given a chance and ran with it.  We'll be featuring three incredible women; Antoinette Edwards, Shalonda Menafee and Dr. Alisha Moreland as our storytellers, delicious seasonal fare by Field Day and the finest of local beverages. This will surely be a celebration to remember.   Buy tickets here.
We look forward to seeing you there!  

Fondly,
Nancy Yuill
Harriet Tubman to be featured on the $20 bill!

Wednesday April 20th, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced that Harriet Tubman would replace Jackson on the front of the $20 bill. It has been more than a century since a woman was on a paper note and she will become the first African American to be featured. Now when you are trying to resist your spending leaks, you can ask yourself "What would Harriet do?"
Spotlight: April is Financial Capability Month!

You have opportunity to build your financial capabilities when you know what you need to do, you have the ability to do it, and you have choices that you can act upon. We are thrilled to showcase the new financial capability lifecycle developed by our friends at CFED. You can get a great visual depiction of where each of us can have a positive impact in a person's journey to build and sustain their financial capability.
Take a look at this infographic by CFED about the financial capability lifecycle.
Spotlight: Take a Chance Story from one of our clients

In my 35 years I have had a lot of struggles and I would not be here now if it wasn't for several key people that took a chance on me and opened doors to a brighter future. 
My most recent journey was to buy a home for the first time on my own. I had already built a relationship with Portland Housing Center and they gave me the opportunity to do an IDA to be able to have a down payment for my house. 
Since I had already started my IDA with Portland Housing Center then all I needed was to build my credit and they introduced me to Innovative Changes where I took classes on how to build and fix your credit. They teach how to budget, and how to keep yourself away from the predatory credit (people out there looking for people like me desperate to make things right in all the wrong ways) and they have incentives as well. 
I took advantage of the credit building program were I paid a small amount each month to show that I pay on time, I did it for a year and my credit score went up. I also got to see and learn how to read my credit and today I have a credit score of 750 that I stay on top of every month to ensure better credit opportunities. 
Thank you very very much for allowing me to be a part and also to learn from you. Today I have my beautiful four bedroom home with 0 interest and a low mortgage that allows me to afford our day to day for me and my four children.
Upcoming Workshops & Orientations
 
The next Financial Household Resiliency workshops will be:
   
-Tuesday evenings, 5:30-7:30 pm and Friday early afternoons 10:00-12:00 pm

April 26th: Building, Repairing and Protecting Credit
April 29th: Building, Repairing and Protecting Credit
May 6th: Making Ends Meet
May 10th: Making Ends Meet
 
This workshop series will be held at our NEW office in 2027 Lloyd Center Mall. You can register for the classes here.
Our next Credit Builder Orientations will be:

Thursday April 28th, 5:30-6:30 pm 
Friday May 6th, 10-11 am
Thursday May 12th, 5:30-6:30 pm
Thursday May 19th, 5:30-6:30 pm
EN ESPAŅOL, viernes, 27 de abril, 1-2 pm


 All take place at our office, 2027 Lloyd Center.  Register here.
 
Quick Stats:
As of 4/11/2016
Partners:
 53
Loans: 
Total disbursed:
902
$410,108
Financial Education Clients: 3,621
IDA Savers: 110
IDA Graduates:
 24
IDA Wait List:
--
IDA Interest: 
313 
 
About Us
 
Our inter-related programs of responsible lending, credit building, financial education and savings acceleration build people's financial capabilities and put them on the path to long term financial health.  Join us in our work!

You Can Help!

You care about helping people achieve and maintain household stability. Now you can join our efforts at Innovative Changes as we expand our reach to serve more clients. Your generous donation will be put to good use!

 

Whatever amount you can afford, you can set it up for monthly automatic payments to ease your cash flow. If you have bill pay service with your bank you can set up Innovative Changes to receive regular monthly payments. If you prefer, we can process a monthly ACH transaction on your behalf. Contact us at contact@innovativechanges.org to set up your monthly giving program.

 

Thank you for your support!
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Innovative Changes | 2027 Lloyd Center | Portland | OR | 97232