Common Wealth Charlotte

Common Wealth Charlotte (CWC) is an innovative nonprofit organization providing financial empowerment to Charlotte’s economically-vulnerable individuals through financial education coupled with access to traditional, yet specially-designed banking products and services, including 0% interest loans. CWC's trauma-informed financial education (TIFE) curriculum results in a more financially-capable workforce, producing long-lasting change and creating success for both employee and employer. TIFE is a new best practice introduced into the Charlotte region by CWC, and involves a deep understanding and recognition of the physical, psychological, and emotional trauma experienced by our most fragile working poor. It accomplishes its effort by empowering clients in both classroom and one-to-one settings, create an environment of safety, trustworthiness, transparency, peer support, mutual respect, consumer choice, and culturally relevant discourse. CWC's unique approach provides access to a re-banking program and donor-funded loan collateral pool, allowing its credit union partner to bank and make 0% interest loans (called Opportunity Loans) to clients with otherwise insufficient credit scores. These services enable clients to start on a pathway of upward mobility and break out of the cycle of poverty by providing an affordable alternative for depositing paychecks, addressing financial emergencies, refinancing existing predatory debt, and paying off items that negatively affect credit scores.