MISSOULA — If you’ve found yourself trying to navigate unemployment or adjust your budget since the start of the pandemic, a non-profit in Missoula may have just what you need.
“Homeword believes that every Montanan should have a safe, healthy home to go home to, and part of what we do is we offer classes for first time homebuyers, financial and renter education and counseling,” said Homeword Operations and Program Director Karissa Trujillo.
Since 1994, Homeword, a non-profit headquartered in Missoula, has helped families build financial resilience.
Now, with the financial impacts of the pandemic looming overhead, they know their programming is more important than ever, so they're pivoting.
“As soon as the stay-at-home order was issued we switched our education to the Zoom platform,” said Trujillo.
Despite the headache of reworking all of their programs to fit with an online setting, Trujillo told MTN News that the switch has allowed them to reach more clients than ever before.
“We're seeing folks from all over the state really benefiting from this empowering level of education,” said Trujillo. “Especially in a pandemic, this is a time when a lot of folks are either dealing with unemployment or underemployment, and not really feeling confident about what the next few months look like.”
Whether your financial struggles are minimal or exponential, Trujillo said their financial skill building classes welcome you to come as you are.
“Our financial educator has this incredible energy around being able to help people where they are, so if you are making no money, she's going to find you resources and she's going to teach you skills to really dig into what's available to you, and then for folks who feel more secure but maybe are living outside of their means, they know they make enough money to cover their bills and yet, by the end of the month they are running out of money...so she just helps folks really get in line and create this living, breathing budget so that they can adjust what they need and meet those financial goals.”
The next round of financial skill building classes will be held next week, January 12th, 13th, and 14th. You can sign up for free here.
