THE FINANCIAL CLINIC



		Haidee Cabusora Attorney David Friedman Attorney Ralph G. Glover Financial Coach Mae Watson Grote Executive Director David Colby Reed Operations Manager Rebecca Smith Financial Coach VOLUNTEERS: Abdullah H. Abdur-Razzaq Elliot Albirt Karol Ansah Shahidah Bilal Trevor Clark Sam DeVeaux Mary Steuart Dyer Kemper Diehl Raphael Faida Jonathan Fox Kathy Heffern Alan Hersker, Ph.D Hoonjin Jung Neena Lalchandani Catherine Maanu Kaydian Martin-Lawrence Stephanie Mazlish Marjorie E. Moore Jason Ortman Matt Russo Karen J. Sack Jane Scholl Lana Siquijor Rayza Soto Watson Tanlamai Jennifer Tausig Renato Tranquilino Alfred Wassler Dan Weinberger Thomas Weiss ^ TOP Maria L. Buck Consultant Mae Watson Grote Executive Director The Financial Clinic Rae Linefsky Principal C3 Consulting Maria E. Melendez Vice President and Deputy Director AIG Global Pensions Janet Raffel Principal J.E. Raffel & Associates ^ TOP Citi Foundation Garfield Foundation Merrill Lynch Community Development Company New York Community Trust United Way of New York City ^ TOP Bethex Federal Credit Union Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union Community Service Society FoodChange Partnership for the Homeless The Fund for the City of New York New York City Financial Action Consortium Urban Justice Center, Community Development Project ^ TOP Convinced that low-wage workers could become more economically mobile via the intersection of financial and workforce development, Mae Watson Grote founded The Financial Clinic in 2005 after a two-year business planning process. Prior to the Clinic, Mae was with Public/Private Ventures, a national, nonprofit research and policy organization. While at P/PV she conceived of and conducted a multi-year study that culminated in a publication titled Unrealized Gains: How Workforce Development Organizations Can Put Money In the Pocket of Low-Wage Workers. The field report profiled three nonprofit organizations that addressed their constituents’ economic security within the fabric of their preexisting services. Scores of interviews across the nation revealed that there were many different organizations supporting the self-sufficiency of the neighborhoods they serve: legal service agencies helping families secure housing; workforce development organizations offering skills training; and social service institutions helping workers claim the Earned Income Tax Credit. However, it was clear that there was a need for a set of services in which the express and sole purpose was to address and remedy low-income people’s finances—hence the new term, “financial development.” As such, the Clinic’s approach to economic justice is innovative and unprecedented: Instead of using housing or employment as proxies for self-sufficiency, the Clinic proposes to ensure economic security literally and explicitly. In 2005 the Clinic launched with the support of the Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union, providing legal services and financial counseling to credit union members in the Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods of Brooklyn. In 2006, the Clinic was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in New York State, and joined the Fund for the City of New York's non-profit incubator program. The Clinic relocated to Manhattan in 2007 and currently serves low-income New Yorkers throughout the City. ^ TOP \| Print this page