Getting Ahead

Financial Literacy Program

Getting Ahead is our 12-16 week financial literacy and life-skills course that provides education for understanding and breaking the cycle of generational poverty, from its financial, psychological, and social causes to its ramifications. The workshop is based on Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World and the Bridges Out of Poverty framework. This course taught by financial literacy and banking professionals, equips participants to overcome financial challenges and encourages them to work to build a better future for themselves.

Participants attend group sessions over about 16 weeks, exploring the realities of poverty, local community barriers, and the “hidden rules” of economic class. They complete a personal “future story,” build budgets, identify local resources, and set practical goals around employment, education, housing, and family stability.

Our Program

We began offering Getting Ahead in Georgetown in 2018; at least 35 individuals completed the program there in its early years, and the model has since spread. Getting Ahead has a 97% success rate. Graduates moved from unsafe, unstable housing into safe, subsidized apartments after learning how to navigate housing systems and expunge records. Some graduates have launched small businesses (such as a lawn-care company) using the financial planning, resource-building, and confidence gained in the workshop to move from generational poverty toward self-sufficiency.

Getting Ahead is currently offered at our Georgetown and Charleston office. Join our next class of graduates!

For the next Getting Ahead class in Georgetown please call: 843-546-1470

For the next Getting Ahead class in Charleston please call: 843-531-5570