Research to Practice

Enhancing family self-sufficiency is one of the major goals of Healthy Families New York: we hope that, over the course of participation in home visiting, families will be able to increase their available income, receive more of the benefits available to them, more efficiently use their resources, or set and meet their own financial goals. Inadequate income is one of the major eligibility criteria for family participation in HFNY; indeed, nearly three-quarters of families were recorded as having inadequate or insufficient income as of program enrollment, and many report it to be one of their largest sources of stress. In response to this need, HFNY has undertaken several activities meant to support families as they develop financial knowledge and skills to build toward these goals, including partnering with external organizations for financial skills trainings and building staff skills in having specific conversations about family financial resources from the start of service delivery.

Strategies for Approaching First Conversations with Families about Finances