MADISON, Wis. — A Dane County non-profit serving Black women and their families is starting something new: a six-week "Financial Health Academy."

What You Need To Know

  • Progress Center for Black Women Opens Financial Health Academy Enrollment
  • New pilot course offers 10 Black families a chance to learn how to save and budget
  • UW Health group donation provides $10,000 for effort; upon completion each family receives a $1,000 rainy day fund
  • The program hopes to operate in a six week course capacity or in continuous boot camps throughout the year

The Progress Center for Black Women’s Founder Sabrina Madison says she realized her clients during COVID lacked access to rainy day funds. 

"You know how we're all told we're supposed to have an emergency fund, that's really hard to do especially in a pandemic. And so it was really just one or two months of bills or utilities or a car note that we're getting folks, where their credit was taken hit," Madison said.

Her plan: enroll ten Black women and their families to learn how to take their future into their own hands.

"And you must have a young person between 13 and 21 at home because the goal is, what the young person learns he or she passes down what mom or dad whomever learned, they're passing down, so you just have this, this financial life, you know, health, that's passed down from generation to generation," Madison said.

At course completion, the UW Health Group’s $10,000 donation will allow the organization to provide each enrolled family its own $1,000 emergency fund.  

The program, taught by Cardinal Stritch professors and counselors trained in financial trauma, hopes to operate in a six week course capacity or in continuous boot camps throughout the year.

You can learn how you can apply, or fund the effort, at https://www.centerforblackwomen.org/financial-health-academy/.