Spring into action with Launch Okanagan!
In this issue:
- Launch Okanagan hosts free budgeting workshop – April 26th;
- Corporate/Donor Spotlight – Thanks to Highstreet Ventures!
- Program updates;
- What’s New at Launch Okanagan;
- Get involved;
Dollars and Sense inspires Sarah as she contemplates a career change…
Sarah took part in the Dollars and Sense program in the Fall of 2022. She was introduced to the program through a Launch Okanagan program partner, Dress for Success, when she was exploring a career change during the pandemic. Her feedback is inspiring and speaks to the best possible outcomes from taking the program.
“I learned so much from the Dollars and Sense financial workshops! The facilitator introduced some great new concepts and made sense of old concepts that have been bouncing around in my head for ages. She helped me turn those concepts into a concrete, easy to understand & implement action plan!
The budgeting tips and financial insights have greatly supported me in making some big changes. I am now able to manage my money in a way I have never been able to do before. For the first time in my life, I have a solid grip on my cashflow (money in & out), I have made (and am adhering to) a budget, and I have been successfully saving!
The Launch Okanagan workshops have helped me greatly on my path to heal my relationship with money and to achieve my goals. They have given me some incredibly useful tools, and I’m grateful for it! Money can be an incredibly daunting topic, and the facilitator’s diverse resources and compassionate approach made it feel approachable.”
To support the Dollars and Sense program and Launch Okanagan’s work in the community, donate now.
On this episode of Rick and Friends, Rick Maddison sits down with Jennifer Robins, the executive director of Launch Okanagan, to discuss financial literacy, budgeting and raising your children to understand finance.
posted Jan 23, 2023
Habitat for Humanity Okanagan currently serves 34 families in the Okanagan region, and are preparing to move 12 more families into homes in Lake Country. We partnered with Launch Okanagan early last year to give these families a solid financial understanding before they make the biggest purchase of their lives — their first home.
The 8-session monthly program that was set up by Jennifer Robins for all our families to attend has been incredibly successful. We have had families who have lowered their debt load due to a better understanding of debt and credit card use, and we also have a single mother who has signed up for the Launch Okanagan Matching Program, and is now saving that money for her childrens’ future education.
We hope to be able to partner with Launch Okanagan for many years; not only for future homeowners, but also for our current families who may need additional financial guidance, which Launch Okanagan offers to them on a one-to-one basis.
Alison McCormick
Family Services Manager
Habitat for Humanity Okanagan
The YMCA of Southern Interior BC – Jumpstart Employment Essentials program in Kelowna, B.C. offers youth between the ages of 15-30 an employment program that helps develop skills in fundamental employability and life skills necessary to obtain and maintain employment in the labour market.
We have been involved with the Launch Program since January 2016 welcoming their instructor to teach fundamental budgeting and money management to our youth. We have built curriculum time into our program calendar as we understand what a vital base of knowledge Launch offers for young workers beginning their potential earning years.
To date, more than 150 youth from the YMCA Jumpstart program have taken part in the Launch Primer for Life program. This is generally the first time our youth have received any type of money management guidance giving them very real and significant information for their earnings. We have witnessed the positive impact on the lives of many of our youth who have created goals and plans for their earnings, not previously considered.
We at Jumpstart, wholly support the Launch program and will continue to incorporate their curriculum into ours as a necessary part of education for becoming responsible, successful, productive members of society. Without the Launch program, we would not be able to offer the learning opportunities for becoming aware and informed consumers.
A number of our participants have chosen to participate further with Launch and join their more advanced money management, matching and investment programs.
Cassandra Thomas
General Manager, Community & Employment Services
YMCA of Southern Interior BC
Launch Okanagan has been offering and holding financial classes, two to three a year, for our
men for over two years. Many of our clientele, have learned only the bad aspects of
finances, using every cent they make on drugs or alcohol, abusing credit, with no thought of
ever saving.
Each course entails 6, one and a half hour sessions. The men are instructed on how to
establish healthy financial practices. How do you get a bank account, budgeting, saving,
your relationship with money, consumerism, credit and much more, always talking to guys,
one on one about their individual financial difficulties.
Many have never learned the importance of sound financial decisions and all, come out of
these classes with newfound respect for how these decisions can shape their lives.
At the end of these classes, they are also awarded a certificate of completion which many of
the men have found helpful when they present it to potential landlords.
Out of ten people in Launch Okanagan’s current matched savings program, 2 of those
participants are from our program. Men that have learned the value of savings, for their or
their children’s future, from attending these financial sessions.
When all you have learned is unhealthy practices, you must be taught, that there are
healthy ways of dealing with financial matters.
This is what Launch Okanagan is doing for our men. I must reiterate that this is a course we
could not afford for our men with our limited budget.
Lloyd McClelland
Program Director
