In a small room at Solid Ground’s Broadview Shelter & Transitional Housing, a half dozen women sit around a table laughing and telling stories, trading phone numbers and sharing resources.

Given all the energy and excitement in the room, it’s hard to believe the women are here to learn about personal finance. 

“That’s my favorite part, when the girls start talking together and I stop talking – and I can step back,” says Michele Wood, a volunteer who works to empower survivors of domestic violence (DV) at Broadview to regain control over their finances. “That’s when I’m like, ‘Yes, this is what the class should be all about. It’s you guys working together, finding resources together, and just having fun.” 

‘There’s always a feeling’ 

Every year, more than 300 people – including DV survivors and their children – come to Broadview in search of safety, shelter, and the opportunity to build new lives after escaping abusive relationships. Every journey is different, but most Broadview residents start from almost nothing, having left behind money, belongings, and even important documents to provide a better life for their families.

That’s where volunteers like Michele come in. Twice a month, she stops by Broadview to help residents better understand their relationships with money and discover techniques for managing them. But these classes aren’t all spreadsheets and checkbooks. With training in behavioral health and firsthand experience navigating financial challenges, Michele takes a nonjudgmental approach to financial education, focusing on the emotions that money brings out in all of us.

“There’s always a feeling behind our spending,” she explains to the group of women on this Wednesday morning. “If you stop and look at it, every time you spend, just jot down what you bought and then later on, jot down why you bought it. Put an emotion to it. You may notice, ‘I spend a lot because of guilt,’ for example. So then, how do you rethink that and stop those patterns?” 

It’s useful advice for anyone, but especially for people who’ve experienced money as a tool of coercion that an abuser once used to control them. As many as 76-99%* of DV survivors say they’ve experienced some form of economic abuse. This can include being cut off from access to money, having your credit sabotaged, or being prevented from learning basic financial skills, like managing bank accounts or paying off credit cards. 

“When someone is trying to oppress or control someone, they use whatever tools are available to them that work – and power over finances is a very powerful one,” says Amy H., Broadview Children’s Program Manager.

‘We are powerful’ 

On this Wednesday, Michele starts the class by sharing a story from her own life, describing how she spent years as a young mom scrubbing toilets with a toddler sleeping on her back, thinking it was all she was cut out for.

“I was in that vicious circle. I couldn’t get out. It’s like, ‘You’re going to do hard labor jobs. This is all you’re good enough for. This is your life. Embrace it,’ she says. “And then I turned 50 and I’m like, ‘No. I’m not going to embrace it. I can do whatever I want to do.’”

It’s an anecdote that resonates with the women in the room. One says she completed all the education and training she needs to start a new career, but fear and self-doubt keep holding her back from getting the certification required to get the job she wants. How, the woman asks, did Michele break that cycle and come to believe in herself?

“The girls basically taught me how to teach the class. What do they need? What is it they want? And what’s reoccurring in their stories? Is there something that resonates and bubbles up for them? … They’ll share with each other, and they’ll support each other. It’s beautiful.” 

~Michele Wood, Broadview financial empowerment volunteer

Michele steps up to a white board in the room and draws a stick figure on one side, the word “goals” on the other, and a boulder in between them – representing obstacles the women might be facing.

The trick, she says, is to pick apart those obstacles and identify steps you can take toward overcoming them, even if the final goal is still out of reach. If the goal is a job, maybe a step toward it is a free skill-building course or a visit to a career fair. 

For Michele, starting to say “yes” to every opportunity, even when it scares her, was a big step. “I don’t like feeling like I’m not good enough, when I know deep down that I am,” she tells the women. “And we all are. Every single woman in this room, we are powerful. And I think sometimes they just keep us down because they know how good we are and what we can do.” 

Stepping back, making space 

Throughout Broadview’s many programs – which include things like parent coaching, support groups, and youth development activities – the common thread is creating space for sharing, connection, and community. Amy says that’s why Michele’s financial empowerment classes have become so popular.

“Michele makes it playful,” she says. “You wouldn’t think necessarily that a finance empowerment class would be so popular with folks, and initially it wasn’t. It was underattended and not well understood. But Michele has really brought a whole new energy to it. She’s been a bright light in our work.”

For example, the agenda for a recent class included advice on using automated bank transfers to build savings, tricks for finding job-training resources as a DV survivor, and guidance for budgeting monthly bills. But for the most part, Michele lets the conversations go wherever the women want to take them.

“The girls basically taught me how to teach the class,” she says. “What do they need? What is it they want? And what’s reoccurring in their stories? Is there something that resonates and bubbles up for them?

“And the stories are all different. They’ll get going at the table, talking about their stories. They’ll share with each other, and they’ll support each other. It’s beautiful.”

Volunteers are critical to our work at Broadview and Solid Ground! Check out our current Volunteer Opportunities and join the movement!

• Source: *Examining the impact of economic abuse on survivors of intimate partner violence

• Photo at top: Michele Wood helps Broadview moms take back control of their finances as part of their healing journeys (photo by Clarissa Magdich).