Domestic violence takes many forms, including financial abuse. Many victims feel trapped in the relationship because they have no access to the family finances and/or have not been allowed to earn their own income. Others have had their credit intentionally ruined by their abusers leaving them to believe that they are unable to start over on their own. One of the most effective means of control over a victim is restricting their financial independence.

The Allstate Foundation has recently provided the Family Justice Center with funding to help empower victims to re-gain their financial independence. In a partnership with Child & Family Services – Haven House and Key Bank, the Family Justice Center will be offering free Financial Empowerment Workshops to educate clients on the building blocks for financial independence. The workshops, led by Key Bank representatives, will cover such issues as understanding your credit score and how to improve your score, budgeting, establishing and managing bank accounts, and more.

Upon completion of the workshop, interested participants can then continue the Financial Empowerment program with one on one counseling provided by Haven House’s Economic Empowerment Specialist. In addition, attendees can also choose to work with the representatives at Key Bank to work on establishing their own bank accounts, monitoring their credit, discussing home buying options, and addressing any other on-going financial issues and goals.

The Workshops will be offered several times a year at no cost to the attendees. Our next workshop will be taking place on April 12, 2018 at 5:30 pm at the Family Justice Center’s Buffalo Office located at 438 Main Street, Buffalo. If you, or anyone you know, would like to attend, please just contact Tiffany Pavone at tpavone@fjcsafe.org or 558-7233 to register.