FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT

$tand By Me® is a coalition of community partners, led by the State of Delaware and United Way of Delaware. Launched in 2011 in New Castle County, the organization now offers services statewide. Our mission is to provide Delawareans with a personal financial coach and a toolkit to navigate the challenges leading to personal financial security.

Our goal is to increase the capacity of Delawareans to understand and manage their finances in order to increase their financial stability and future economic opportunities.

 

Stand By Me Hispano

 

Stand By Me Hispano  is a financial empowerment program tailored to meet the financial needs of Latino immmigrants. Are you worried about paying your bills? Do you share living expenses with others? Do you want to know more about banking services for immigrants in the US? Do you dream about owning a home or sending your kids to college?

 

Services offered free of charge include:

 

• Financial Coaching: One-on-one personal financial coaching in Spanish to help individuals and couples to deal with personal financial challenges, set goals and achieve their dreams. The service is FREE and strictly CONFIDENTIAL.

• Workshops: Mind over Money workshops in Spanish or English for budgeting, navigating the financial system in the U.S., avoiding predatory financial services, building credit and home onwership.

 

Contact: Duniesky Landa, Personal Financial Coach, DLanda@thelatincenter.org

 

Stand By Me Child Care

 

Stand By Me has developed partnerships with Head Start Centers and many private and nonprofit childcare centers throughout Delaware to provide personal financial coaching to the staff (as an employee benefit)and to the families served by the centers.

Four coaches, two of whom are bilingual in Spanish and one bilingual in Creole, are fanning out across the state to work with the centers. The State Office of Early Learning and the Office of Childcare Licensing has worked with $tand By Me to qualify program services within Delaware's early childcare quality initiative, STARS, as either an employee benefit or a community service. This way, centers not only benefit by making these services available to their staff and families, but they also add value towards their quality rating.  

In addition to the financial coaching support provided to teachers and parents, $tand By Me® is offering a special Sesame Street workshop to parents and children to begin financial literacy at the tender age of three.  

 

Services offered free of charge to all family child care providers, childcare centers & Head Start programs include:

 

• Financial coaching:  Personal and group financial coaching sessions to help childcare workers and parents manage their budgets.

• Mind over Money workshops: Four one-hour workshops for childcare administrators recognized for annual hours by the Office of Child Care Licensing

• Guidance on business improvement: Complements and supports providers working toward their standards in the Delaware Stars Program

• Reward Yourself incentives: Childcare workers can earn points and prizes through $tand By Me® by improving their finances

 

Contact: Araceli Silva, Personal Financial Coach, AContreras@thelatincenter.org