Model and Strategy
At the heart of the Family Independence Initiative (FII) approach is a trust that low-income people have the resiliency, initiative, and entrepreneurism to lead their own change. At the center of our model is our UpTogether technology platform, where families receive unrestricted cash investment, work together to share resources and reach self-made goals, and report on finances and progress towards goals. We invest in community initiative, and our 19 years of results prove that the return is huge. Families report increased income, assets, and a greater sense of community support. We use this data at an aggregate level to work with philanthropic and government entities to adjust their policies and practices to a strengths-based approach. In Oakland, Black Oaklanders live in poverty at a rate over 3 times more than White Oaklanders. By promoting the exchange of social capital and investing directly in Oakland families, FII will prove that government and philanthropic institutions can make poverty escapable, not just tolerable.
Impact
FII is on a mission towards the adoption of a strength-based lens on poverty alleviation by philanthropic and government institutions nationwide. We will achieve this through 1) the demonstrated impact of our own model, through which we invest directly in families and promote the exchange of social capital (resources and services shared among communities that would otherwise have a monetary cost, like watching a neighbors child) and 2) using the data amassed by these investments to work with institutions to invest directly themselves and re-define their policies and practices to focus on community strength rather than deficit.
Since our founding, 539 families in Oakland have set personal goals, shared resources through their community networks, and have been invested in for their strengths with FII. On average, these Oakland families saw a 32% increase in income and 188% increase in assets over a 2-year period. This project is positioned to not only drive population-level change in economic mobility for families in Oakland, but also to create structural change that will break down the systemic barriers that prevent folks from being able to sustain their economic progress. The ultimate goal of this work is to build a sustainable, replicable model of creating economic mobility for people with low-incomes.
Leadership
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Jesús Gerena
CEO
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Grace Peter
Associate Director, National Partnerships