Maryland CASH partnered with the Asset Funders Network and University of Maryland School of Social Work to do a webinar presenting the results from the FSP client study. The webinar took place May 8th and was attended by local network members as well as interested funders and practitioners throughout the country. Did you miss it? Don’t worry, the recording is available here.
The Baltimore Smart Referral Tool has been successfully moved from the Asset Platform to http://www.mdcash.org. Give it a test run try if you haven’t used it already. For FSP partners, your log-in information from the Asset Platform should also work here. Please let Lara know if there are any issues.
Thanks for your patience during the transition! As always, if there are additional resources you would like to see added to the Local Page, please offer your feedback.
The Smart Referral Tool is the online hub of the Financial Stability Pathway Project. It’s the tool that providers are using each and every time they log into the Local Page of the Asset Platform. As part of a re-design of www.mdcash.org, Maryland CASH Campaign will be moving the tool from the Asset Platform to the CASH Campaign’s site. Right now, the new site is in beta testing, to make sure all glitches are corrected before providers are redirected to the tool’s new home.
The transition should occur sometime in the fall of 2013, prior to the start of Year 3 of the project. Maryland CASH will inform all partners of when it will be occur. The tool will work exactly the same as it does now, but network partners will visit www.mdcash.org use it to connect clients to financial stability services. Stay tuned for updates!
The Financial Stability Pathway Network is in full swing of Year 2 recruitment. The new and improved Baltimore Local Page will help our network to guide clients to the appropriate services to help them meet their financial goals, and even has the capability now to remind clients of their referral one month later! Remember, it’s up to the client whether they’d like to receive the service information in an email– and whether they’d like a reminder one month later– but they won’t select it if they don’t KNOW about it. So please, remember to share those options with your clients as you walk them through the Baltimore Smart Referral Tool.
Next up: February network conference call. The call will feature a deep-dive description of the new Maryland CASH Small Group Financial Coaching Program and a professional development presentation on student loan debt issues and resources. Don’t forget to tune in, and to volunteer for next month’s professional development presentation.
The Maryland CASH Campaign would like to wish everyone within the Financial Stability Pathway Project a Happy New Year! Today, 12/31/12, is the official close of the Project Year 1. Within this year, we built a network together: 4 direct service organizations, 2 employees assistance programs, and 48 practitioners trained in the basics of financial social work and the tools of the Baltimore Local Page. 417 clients have entered the Financial Stability Pathway Project; that is, they have received a core service, worked with a counselor to select a financial goal, and have received a secondary referral to the best service to help them to meet that financial goal. What a year!
Year 2 will begin with our upcoming training on January 10th, 2013, at the new Maryland CASH Campaign headquarters, located at 217 E. Redwood St, Suite 1500. See you there!
Thank you to everyone who participated in our recent Medical Debt webinar. If you missed it, you can view the webinar online. During the webinar, Maryland CASH Campaign made some important announcements about participating in Year 2, including the addition of performance-based funding for our grantees. We’ll also be unveiling the version 2.0 of the Baltimore Local Page for the start of Year 2. Version 2.0 incorporates much of the feedback our network of direct service providers has submitted in emails, polls, conference calls, and Quarterly Reports. Thank you for helping to build a better, simpler tool to help connect low-income Baltimore residents to financial stability services.
Project Year 1 has been extended to December 31st. Proposals to participate in Year 2 of the Financial Stability Pathway are due November 30th. We look forward to continuing to work with our valued partners to create assets, savings, and hope for the citizens of Baltimore city.
On October 25th, 2012 our monthly conference call will be held via webinar. Tune in to learn from a special guest presenter- Mark Rukavina, of Community Health Advisors, medical debt and health care reform expert. For the first 25-30 minutes of the webinar, Mr. Rukavina will cover consequences resulting from medical debt, solutions to problems, and local resources to help you to point clients in the right direction when they come to you with medical debt. Then we’ll have time for Q & A, where you can chat or email your questions. This is a great opportunity to have your questions answered by an expert!
Speaking of great opportunities, CASH will use final 15-20 minutes of the webinar to announce some items you need to know concerning the end of Project Year 1 and everything you will need to know to participate in Year 2—including information on funding. There will be a big announcement about TIMING- so be sure to tune in!
To participate, you’ll need to register in advance. At least one member of your organization must participate in the call, but we encourage all staff connected with this project to do so! Once you register, you will be sent the link to participate. After the webinar, we’ll post some of the Maryland-specific resources on medical debt developed for the webinar on this page so that you may refer to them later. See you tomorrow!
Thanks to everyone who joined us for the FSP Year 2 strategy meeting on August 23rd at Catholic Charities Our Daily Bread Employment Center. We heard a summary of the services offered by ODBEC given by Karen Heyward-West of Catholic Charities and wow– they serve approximately 700 meals a day! Representatives from Bon Secours Community Works, Social Security Administration, Baltimore CASH Campaign, Catholic Charities, and Consumer Credit Counseling Services joined MD CASH in a discussion on Year 2 additions of services and changes to the tools.
Service-wise, people want to see more offerings, and we are considering how best to add to the network resources. There was also a lot of interest in issue-specific resource sheets, such as fact sheets on student loan issues and medical debt strategies. We”ll be pulling those together with input from the network. People would also like to see the tools be easier and faster to use, so we’re currently examining our options to streamline the process. Your feedback is important! If you haven’t already, please take a minute to fill out the survey to share YOUR thoughts on how we can make the Financial Stability Pathway project better in Year 2: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/fspyear2
We’ll be collecting feedback until the next conference call on October 25th. We’ll announce details on participating in the project for Year 2 so please be sure to attend!
The practitioners of the FSP Network will meet in person on August 23rd at Catholic Charities Our Daily Bread Employment Center to discuss changes to the Baltimore network, referrals, and additional resources. Please think about the following discussion questions:
In other news, our two lucky winners for the Common Cents Conference Scholarship are: Ms. Veronica Purcell of Baltimore CASH and Ms. Antoinette Brown of Catholic Charities! Both wrote beautiful short essays on their roles in helping the communities they serve—look forward to reading them on the Practitioner Spotlights of the Baltimore Local Page.
One in four Americans has medical debt that they cannot pay and 52% of all debt in collections is medical debt. Individuals and families everywhere are affected by medical bills that they cannot pay, and often their whole financial picture is compromised. The first professional development opportunity that we’re offering our FSP partners is an excellent webinar on medical debt presented by Aspen Institute and Mark Rukavina from the Access Project entitled, “Getting Sick Can Mean Getting Behind: Learn How to Manage Medical Debt.” The webinar is available: http://www.assetplatform.org/beta/Uploadedfiles/Webinars/Medicaldebt/lib/playback.html
We’re also in the process of coordinating a conference call with presenter Mark Rukavina to give our partners the opportunity to ask specific questions, and learn more about Maryland resources to help families deal with medical debt. Please watch the webinar when you have a chance, and stay tuned for more information!
FSP Baltimore 