Financial Education | First Step Alliance

Fresh Start
Financial Education

Build Your Financial Foundation

Fresh Start Financial Education empowers justice-involved individuals with knowledge and mentoring to help work toward financial stability and improve their financial health. We work closely with community organizations and agencies to design customized workshops around the specific challenges participants are navigating.

Our program provides free, unlimited access to financial education and credit counseling. Participants build practical money management skills through personalized coaching, webinars, short videos, interactive courses, and podcasts. A self-paced digital learning portal is available 24/7 using a computer, tablet, or smartphone, and includes essential topics like banking basics, credit repair, budgeting, and identity theft.

Participants earn a Certificate of Completion for each course and are supported by financial coaches and peer mentors who understand their situation and can help them apply what they're learning to real financial decisions.

One-on-One Guidance

Our certified instructors, coaches, and peer mentors work with you to provide personalized guidance:

Spending & Saving: improve your household budgeting and saving strategies.
Credit Repair: how to read your credit report, correct mistakes, and raise your credit score.
Debt Management: cut your monthly payments and freeze late fees to get out of debt quicker.
Housing Counseling: rental assistance programs and first-time home buying.