The Bold Goals Coalition’s Financial Services Network (FSN) partners with eight nonprofit financial service providers to help people in Central Alabama achieve financial stability. During the next several months, these messages will feature members of the FSN Steering Committee as they highlight these partners’ incredible work, and offer their perspective on the impact of the FSN.
This month, Isabel Rubio, founder and Executive Director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (¡HICA!), discussed the financial services needs of immigrant communities. Since its inception in 1999, ¡HICA! has invested considerable resources to aid the social, civic and economic integration of Hispanic families in Alabama. While ¡HICA! offers a variety of services to engage and educate its clients, Ms. Rubio said, “Ensuring that all communities have access to financial services is a key priority for ¡HICA!. When communities are strong and financially stable, they prosper.”
Throughout her career in social services, Ms. Rubio has consistently been among the first to recognize the challenges facing Hispanics. “All low-income communities face hardships and challenges as they move up the economic ladder,” said Ms. Rubio. “The challenges for Hispanics can often be that there are not products out there to meet their financial needs.”
Because the FSN aims to ensure that residents of Central Alabama have the resources they need to achieve financial stability, it is imperative that FSN partners actively work to understand and address the unique needs of Hispanic families in our community. “As a partner with the FSN, ¡HICA! can help the network understand the challenges of the immigrant community, and can encourage creative thinking by other members of the network,” said Ms. Rubio. “Participating in the FSN just makes sense for us as a way to ensure that immigrants are not left out.”