Healing Through Financial Literacy

Adult literacy

Central LA East LA South LA San Gabriel Valley West LA San Fernando Valley South Bay Long Beach County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit) City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit) Antelope Valley

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

In Los Angeles, financial instability is both a personal struggle and a structural legacy. Generations of racialized economic exclusion—redlining, wage theft, underfunded schools—have denied Latinx, Black, immigrant, and first-gen communities the tools to build lives of dignity, stability, and purpose. For many young adults and early-career learners, foundational skills like navigating finances, managing stress, and interpreting complex systems are essential—but often overlooked. Cultural silence and financial shame are inherited across generations, leaving people with knowledge gaps and internalized scarcity. Traditional programs miss these emotional layers. We approach financial learning as a form of empowerment—grounded in healing, equity, and whole-person well-being. By helping participants rewrite their relationship with money, we support them in reclaiming voice, agency, and a renewed vision for their future.

Healing Through Financial Literacy is a yearlong, trauma-informed initiative that equips adult learners—especially first-generation college students, returning learners, and early-career adults—with the tools and support to build financial confidence, emotional resilience, and long-term stability.
The program includes:
• Six-week workshop cohorts combining foundational financial education with healing-centered group reflection
• Peer-led circles to explore the emotional and cultural dimensions of money
• Financial storytelling and narrative reclamation to shift generational patterns
• One-on-one coaching with bilingual facilitators trained in BIPOC(Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)-responsive, trauma-informed practices
• Community showcase events that elevate financial wellness as a shared community value
Led by the Randall Lewis Center for Well-Being and Research in partnership with the Office of Civic and Community Engagement (CCE), the initiative will engage participants through trusted local channels including schools, libraries, and community organizations. The curriculum will be co-developed with community input to ensure cultural responsiveness and relevance.
A free, bilingual toolkit and facilitator guide will be produced to support regional scale and increase access across LA County.

If successful, more Angelenos—especially those historically excluded from financial systems—will experience financial learning as healing, relevant, and affirming. Participants will gain practical skills and emotional tools to make informed decisions, reduce stress, and plan for the future with confidence. Families will begin new conversations about money. Young adults will enter careers with greater readiness, and returning learners will reconnect with a sense of agency. Financial well-being will be seen not as a privilege, but as a community right—tied to dignity, purpose, and long-term stability. The program will also produce a replicable, multilingual toolkit and scalable curriculum model for use by schools, nonprofits, and regional partners, catalyzing broader systems change in how financial education is delivered and valued across Los Angeles County.