Survivor Spotlight: Harriet’s Story

Harriet contacted the Women’s Resource Center in need of financial help. She needed help organizing her finances and making smart choices for her family. The staff at the Women’s Resource Center assisted her with getting started with the Allstate Financial Empowerment training. 

The Allstate Foundation’s Moving Ahead Through Financial Management curriculum is a comprehensive package of tools and information designed to empower victims of domestic violence and abuse to be self-sufficient with their finances. The curriculum includes the following components:

• Strategies for addressing the complex financial and safety challenges of ending a relationship with an abusive partner.
• Information on how to protect personal and financial safety in an abusive relationship and after leaving an abusive relationship.
• Methods for dealing with the misuse of financial records.
• Tools to help people of all incomes and earning power work toward long-term financial empowerment, including budgeting tools, step-by-step planners and more.

After Harriet had been working on the Allstate Financial Empowerment training for a few months, she was encouraged to set goals for herself.  Her first goal was to save money for Christmas.  With strength and guidance, Harriet proudly managed to save enough money to give her children a bountiful Christmas without any help.

During the holiday months, the Women’s Resource Center runs an “Adopt-a-Family” program that provides detailed “wish lists” to generous people who want to purchase Christmas gifts for our clients. We had over 50 families “adopted” this year.  A staff member approached Harriet to ask if she would like her family to be “adopted” for this past holiday season. With a big grin, she answered, “Let someone needier be chosen. For the first time, I got this.”