Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana (CAP), Kalispell, MT

Free to Choo$e

By Galen Amy

The mission of Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana is to provide services and advocacy to improve lives and strengthen our communities. Many residents in our communities lack the necessary skills, support or tools to build a strong financial future. Free to Choo$e is a financial literacy program designed specifically to empower our clients to take charge of their economic future.

This is a very low-barrier course, with a teen/adult class, a concurrent youth class, dinner, child care, and transportation assistance if needed. Families participate in a 12-session course and are matched with a volunteer financial mentor who provides support as the family learns to addresses the problems or barriers that are keeping them in poverty.

Adults participants are able to open checking accounts regardless of their past banking history. They also acquire access to lines of credit at Park Side Federal Credit Union at normal market interest rates allowing them to build/rebuild positive credit history as they use and pay on their lines of credit.
We’re enthusiastically working on expansion efforts for this program, in our surrounding communities, in addition to focusing on the heightened development of the youth component of our curriculum.

A recent graduate of Free to Choo$e learned how to pay off her vehicle loan early. The class not only motivated this mother of two to get her credit and finances in order, but also inspired her to further her education. She recently graduated from Flathead Valley Community College to become a CNA. Previously, she had struggled to find a job in Flathead Valley, and now she is working full time at a local hospital. Her new goal is to become a Physician’s Assistant.

Lil Dupree, Development Officer, describes it most precisely stating, “Free to Choo$e is helping people make real and significant changes in their lives. Families are building savings, paying off debt, repairing credit and even refinancing predatory auto loans. This isn’t only about helping people, either – this is community economic development at the most fundamental level.”