Session: Building Financial Wellbeing for Populations Facing Special Economic Disadvantage (Society for Social Work and Research 22nd Annual Conference - Achieving Equal Opportunity, Equity, and Justice)

This symposium addresses the Social Work Grand Challenge of “Building Financial Capability for All,” which emphasizes financial stability and poverty reduction. To make progress toward this goal, policymakers and practitioners must engage in broad reform, but must also examine the circumstances of particularly vulnerable populations to ensure that they too enjoy improved financial inclusion. Certain populations face special challenges in today's complicated financial world, and social workers are especially well-positioned to understand their circumstances, serve their needs, make use of their strengths, and ensure that they engage fully in financial activities to afford them fair treatment in economic dealings. This symposium features three papers addressing the challenges facing marginalized populations in achieving financial wellbeing. The first paper examines the risks faced by women facing foreclosure of their homes, the threats that foreclosure poses to identity, and the important role played by social workers in (re)establishing the trust of women, especially women of color, to engage with the financial sector. A second paper looks at the lives of older Asian immigrants and the correlates of financial success. Its findings indicate that characteristics of kinship and friend networks are strongly associated with financial success, as is an individual's perceived financial locus of control. Finally, a third paper focuses on foster youths “aging out” of care and the challenges they face in negotiating financial activities, usually without the benefit of experience or support of family. The paper describes a unique method for obtaining data on their financial lives, a text message-based survey that queried participants every other day for two months. Findings from the study indicate that this population experiences a high degree of volatility both in financial circumstances and the level of confidence that young adults indicate in being able to make ends meet. The symposium's papers each inform the ongoing and vital conversation on social work's role in improving policies that address financial capability and asset building, and the importance of identifying marginalized populations and exploring the special challenges they face in today's complicated financial landscape.