Financial Capabilities of Service Providers in the Asset-Building Field

Training Social Workers in Personal Finance: An Exploratory Study

“…For example, respondents reported paying their monthly credit card balances in full less frequently compared to a general adult population sample (Applied Research and Consulting, 2009), and some had experienced a home foreclosure or bankruptcy. Only half said that they regularly reconcile their checking account records with bank statements, which is very similar to a finding from a survey of human service professionals working in the asset development field in Washington (Loke, 2011).…”

Promoting Financial Capability of Incarcerated Women for Community Reentry: A Call to Social Workers

“…Providing economic empowerment and financial capability programs that contribute to household stability and security are vital. In order to do this however social workers must be more adequately prepared to conduct effective financial assessments with clients struggling with complex financial problems and economic circumstances, and integrate financial issues into social work (Gillen and Loeffler, 2012;Loke, Watts, & Kakoti, 2013). Curriculum content in social work education needs to be integrated into courses on practice, policy, theory, research, and applied in practicum settings in order for social workers to become competent in delivering financial capability interventions at micro, mezzo, and macro levels.…”

Debt Literacy and Social Work

“…In order to help individuals get out of debt, it is imperative that social workers are themselves debt literate. However, recent research indicates that social workers are lacking in financial literacy (Gillen & Loeffler, 2012;Loke, 2011;Sherraden, Laux, & Kaufman, 2007), while almost no information exists as to whether social workers are similarly lacking in debt literacy. This study attempts to begin to bridge this gap in the knowledgebase by exploring and describing the debt literacy levels of a group of Master of Social Work (MSW) students approaching graduation from their program.…”

“…Given the negative impact debt and the use of predatory financial services may have on lower-income populations, social workers, by virtue of the nature of their work with lower-income populations, are uniquely positioned to assist lower-income individuals and families address and resolve their debt issues. However, research has found that social workers and those in the social service field may have less than ideal levels of financial and debt literacy (Birkenmaier & Curley, 2009;Loke, 2011;Sherraden et al, 2007). Research examining the financial capabilities of 125 social service providers in the asset building field in the state of Washington demonstrated that while frontline social service providers may believe they have a high-level of financial and debt literacy, their objectively assessed financial and debt literacy levels were similar to, or lower than the general population (Loke, 2011;Loke, Watts, & Kakoti, 2013).…”

“…However, research has found that social workers and those in the social service field may have less than ideal levels of financial and debt literacy (Birkenmaier & Curley, 2009;Loke, 2011;Sherraden et al, 2007). Research examining the financial capabilities of 125 social service providers in the asset building field in the state of Washington demonstrated that while frontline social service providers may believe they have a high-level of financial and debt literacy, their objectively assessed financial and debt literacy levels were similar to, or lower than the general population (Loke, 2011;Loke, Watts, & Kakoti, 2013). The same study found that 25% to 40% of asset-building practitioners did not feel comfortable or prepared to address the financial concerns of clients.…”