OnTrack started Secure in 2016 with a $58,640 proactive Human Services grant. In subsequent years, four additional grants totaling $699,500 have been awarded, with co-investors providing 26 percent. Through Secure, more than 500 people have built emergency savings and strengthened their financial skills.
Since May 2023, OnTrack Financial Education & Counseling has put its two-year $65,000 Women for Women grant to use across WNC. OnTrack’s goal is to ensure that financial knowledge and resources are reaching BIPOC and Latinx communities through an expansion of their Women’s Financial Empowerment programming.
“Highlights of our outreach and community-based programming include a Money Visioning & Goal Setting class at ABCCM Costello House and hosting community-based credit awareness events in partnership with Land of the Sky Association of Realtors/Housing Authority of the City of Asheville. We’ve also offered five credit awareness events at our offices during this time.
Credit awareness events provide clients easy and convenient access to credit reports, which they review with expert credit counselors. Accessible credit reports help remove barriers to empowering steps like purchasing a vehicle, renting a safe apartment, or buying a home—all of which depend on an understanding of credit reports and scores. In total, we’ve served more than 300 participants at credit awareness events and community‐based classes alone—in addition to the hundreds of participants served by our core programming.
Language justice is a deeply held value at OnTrack. We’ve been investing heavily in scaling up our Spanish-language services. Thanks to the great leadership of our Spanish Services Coordinator, Tamara Olmedo, and Educator and Outreach Specialist, Ana Baranda, we’ve launched two new Spanish-language classes (Credit and Budgeting) and participated in Harvest Table events in Spruce Pine with one of our most active partners, Vecinos. We’re also drastically improving our website for Spanish speakers, ensuring equitable access to information and programs.
Working with agencies like Vecinos, True Ridge, Children and Family Resource Center, and Verner Center for Early Learning, we’ve redeveloped our approach to Secure Spanish programming. We’re piloting a cohort model in which participants move through the program in a mutually supportive setting. This makes the Secure program—and its $840 savings matches—more accessible than ever. We already have 80 Spanish-speaking participants enrolled in the program!”
Peter Wrublewski
OnTrack Director of Finance & Grants