{"id":31328,"date":"2017-05-23T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T13:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=31328"},"modified":"2025-02-28T13:15:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T18:15:50","slug":"ep17-women-helping-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/ep17-women-helping-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast Ep.17: Women Helping Women"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"player_container player-31328\" ><div class=\"spp_player_textabove\"><b>Listen to the Episode  <\/b><\/div><div id=\"sm2-31328\" class=\"sm2-31328 playercontent sm2-bar-ui compact flat full-width full-width-player\"><div class=\"bd sm2-main-controls\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sm2-inline-element sm2-button-element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sm2-button-bd\" style=\"background: transparent url(https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/app\/uploads\/2021\/05\/podcast_channel_artwork.jpg) repeat scroll 0% 0% \/ cover ;\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div 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class=\"sm2-progress-ball\"><div class=\"icon-overlay\"><\/div><\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sm2-row timestamp timetext\"><div class=\"sm2-inline-time timestamp\">0:00<\/div><div class=\"sm2-inline-duration timestamp\">15:01<\/div><\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sm2-inline-element sm2-button-element sm2-volume\" style=\"0\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t   <div class=\"sm2-button-bd\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sm2-inline-button sm2-volume-control volume-shade\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#volume\" class=\"sm2-inline-button sm2-volume-control\" style=\"\"><\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t   <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"bd sm2-playlist-drawer sm2-element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sm2-playlist-wrapper\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"sm2-playlist-bd\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/thestoryexchange\/Budget_Buddies_Podcast_FINAL.mp3\">Podcast Ep.17: Women Helping Women<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"sppbuttons\" style=\"\"><a class=\"button-itunes\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-story-exchange\/id1036000689?ls=1\">Apple Podcasts<\/a><a class=\"button-g-play\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"display:none !important;\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVzdG9yeWV4Y2hhbmdlLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz\">Google Podcasts<\/a><a class=\"button-embed\" rel=\"modal:open\"  id=\"button-embed\" style=\"display:none !important;\" href=\"#ex1\">Player Embed<\/a><a class=\"button-share\" data-target=\"btnshare\" style=\"display:none !important;\" href=\"#\">Share<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"btnshare\" 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href=\"http:\/\/www.prx.org\/series\/34510-the-story-exchange\">PRX<\/a><a class=\"spp-button-custom2\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/music.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLaK2UyNCu2g2_preGI12R4z2iRXjIH3ah\">Youtube Music<\/a><a class=\"spp-button-custom3\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/5lJgdFK8g9WWXLBYjWytyn\">Spotify<\/a><a class=\"spp-button-custom4\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/pca.st\/B094\">Pocket Casts<\/a><a class=\"spp-button-custom5\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"display:none !important;\" href=\"\"><\/a><a class=\"spp-button-custom6\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"display:none !important;\" href=\"\"><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-31331 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-1024x523.png\" alt=\"Kathy Brough and Anita Saville, Budget Buddies\" width=\"1024\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-1024x523.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-525x268.png 525w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-768x392.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-300x153.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-100x51.png 100w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-862x440.png 862w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-1200x612.png 1200w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-846x432.png 846w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-1184x604.png 1184w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner-1065x543.png 1065w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/22225343\/Budget-Buddies-Page-Banner.png 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In our first &#8220;Good on the Ground&#8221; episode, we meet Kathy Brough and Anita Saville, the founders of Chelmsford, Mass., nonprofit Budget Buddies. Learn how they&#8217;re equipping homeless women to lift themselves out of poverty with the help of women volunteer &#8220;buddies,&#8221; who coach them in personal-finance basics.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/meet-women-teach-financial-skills-homeless\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">See related video and article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"transcript-box\" style=\"float:none !important;\">\r\n<div class=\"accordion-container\">\r\n\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-toggle\">Read Full Transcript<span class=\"toggle-icon\"><i class=\"fa fa-angle-double-down\"><\/i><\/span><\/a>\r\n\t\t<div class=\"accordion-accordion_content\">\r\n\t\t\t<p><p>SUE: (as music plays lightly in the background) You\u2019re listening to Good on the Ground\u2026<\/p>\n<p>VARIOUS VOICES: \u2026Good on the Ground\u2026<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: \u2026You\u2019re listening to Good on the Ground from The Story Exchange.<\/p>\n<p>*Sound of Crash*<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: What just happened there?<\/p>\n<p>SUE: I think we\u2019ll be asking that question for quite awhile. We\u2019ll fight our way out at the end.<\/p>\n<p>*Patriotic Music*<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Let\u2019s get started. I\u2019m Colleen DeBaise.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: And I\u2019m Sue Williams.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Do you feel like things are broken these days?<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Beyond broken. It\u2019s a mess.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Mm-hm.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: It\u2019s a mess!<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: So today\u2026<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Today\u2026<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: We\u2019re going to share a story\u2026<\/p>\n<p>SUE: That we hope will take your mind off it all.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Or at least\u2026<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Put it in a good place.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: This is the first episode of a new series\u2026<\/p>\n<p>SUE: A pretty amazing series\u2026<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Where we\u2019re profiling women who are doing \u201cGood on the Ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: I am Kathy Brough.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: And I am Anita Saville.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: Budget Buddies provides financial education for low-income women through an innovative program.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: You just have to care about women helping women<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: OK, that\u2019s who we\u2019re featuring today -- two ordinary women from Boston.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Female entrepreneurs who are doing \u201cGood on the Ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: They\u2019re using the power of business\u2026<\/p>\n<p>SUE: To tackle some of today\u2019s most pressing social issues.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: So listen in.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: We\u2019ll be pursuing the theme of \u201cGood on the Ground\u201d not just in this podcast, but in upcoming ones, and in the videos on our website\u2026<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: www.thestoryexchange.org.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: We\u2019re pretty sure you\u2019ll feel better by the end of this episode.<\/p>\n<p>*Musical Interlude*<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: For this podcast, we\u2019re taking you to Boston, home of the Red Sox, clam chowder, those funny New England accents.<\/p>\n<p>SOT: And another small startup\u2026<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Actually Chelmsford, Massachusetts!<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Well, close enough.<\/p>\n<p>SOT: Hey! How are you!<br \/>\n-How are you?<br \/>\n-Good! Come on in.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: We\u2019re inside the conference room at Budget Buddies, where co-founders Anita Saville, and Kathy Brough -- and their small staff -- are going through paperwork\u2026<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Matching homeless women with volunteer coaches.<\/p>\n<p>SOT: Well, I have somebody here who says that they don\u2019t know how to make a budget, they don\u2019t have a bank account.<br \/>\n-I wonder if we should put her with a tough buddy.<br \/>\n-Okay.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Here\u2019s Anita Saville:<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: Women, one in seven women lives in poverty for various reasons. Their families have been living in poverty for years, and years, and years. They have little financial education. We still make 20 cents less on the dollar than men do. So then you couple that with poor role models, lots of personal financial challenges, and women are just overwhelmed by money issues.<\/p>\n<p>SOT: Jasmine Torros, she wants to get her life back on track.<br \/>\n-So let\u2019s do Cindy with Jasmine, we said?<br \/>\n-Yes.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: I\u2019ve found working in the shelter with women, they\u2019re there for so many different reasons.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: That\u2019s Kathy Brough speaking.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: So often it\u2019s such poor choices they\u2019ve made, the relationships they\u2019ve made, they\u2019ve been in foster homes, they\u2019ve been unable to have anybody that really gives them confidence.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: So, giving women who are really marginalized a chance to lift themselves out of poverty -- that is no small task.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: It\u2019s huge. It\u2019s huge. Just take education, for example. Kathy told me that Massachusetts ranks last in terms of financial education in the entire nation.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Which is kind of amazing when you think of Harvard, MIT, Wellesley -- <\/p>\n<p>SUE: Exactly. But there are very few financial education programs that focus on the homeless population.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Let alone the homeless women population.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Anita and Kathy spent a lot of time figuring out the best way to do this.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: We spent a year researching, talking to case managers around the greater Lowell area and saying, \u201cWhat would you like in a financial education program?\u201d and they told us two things. One, it has to be comprehensive. You can\u2019t just come in and do one or two workshops.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: And then the second thing\u2026<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: At the same time, you can\u2019t take a cookie cutter approach because you have teen mothers who are just starting out. They may not have a bank account. They may not have ever thought about how they would put money into savings. At the other end of the spectrum you have older women who have a lot of debt, who find themselves at a homeless shelter because of physical illness, or mental illness, or divorce\u2026<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: In 2010, Anita and Kathy --<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Who hadn\u2019t quit their days jobs, mind you!<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN:  -- no, they hadn\u2019t. Anita and Kathy came up with a pilot program.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Matching homeless women with volunteer \u201cbuddies\u201d who could teach them very, very basic financial information.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: So, they tested this program at a shelter.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: And one night somebody put out like 15 cupcakes and one of the young women instantly ate the frosting off of five so we knew she was not going to be too great in class. Anita very nicely said to somebody, \u201cAnd what brought you here tonight?\u201d and she said, \u201cThey made me come.\u201d So we, we knew we had our work cut out for us.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: The idea really just needed some time.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: It was new. It was novel. No one had really sat down with them on a sustained basis and talked about finance.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: That made them tweak the idea just a bit. Today, the program\u2026<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: \u2026combines 12 instructional workshops with one-to-one coaching.<\/p>\n<p>SOT: Do you have a savings account?<br \/>\n-Oh, yeah, no, I have a checking account.<br \/>\n-That\u2019s great.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: So in addition to learning the basics in budgeting, banking, credit, we also have workshops that deal with self-esteem, changing behavior, and really giving the women the confidence that they need in order to be able to go on and manage their money after Budget Buddies stops.<\/p>\n<p>*Musical Interlude*<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: So we\u2019ve been sharing the story of Anita Saville and Kathy Brough, the co-founders of Budget Buddies.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: I want to go back to something Anita said, about how no one had really sat down with these homeless women.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Yeah. There are case managers, of course --<\/p>\n<p>SUE: -- but they\u2019re tapped out. They\u2019ve got about 40 clients each.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Right, they\u2019re overloaded. <\/p>\n<p>SUE: But contrast that with the wealthiest segment of America.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: The 1 percent.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: They\u2019ve got plenty of advisors.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Yet the people who need the advice the most aren\u2019t getting any.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: That\u2019s exactly it. And that\u2019s what led Anita to do this work in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: I grew up in Philadelphia. I went to Penn State. I always wanted to be a teacher so I studied Education and History.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Anita taught for a while in Washington, D.C., where she also went to rallies put on by the National Organization of Women.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: I started dipping my toe into, into women\u2019s rights issues.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Then she moved to Boston.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: I worked for Fidelity Investments as an editor and always felt that while I was writing for upper income and middle-income folks, what was happening for the folks who didn\u2019t have advice on how to manage their money? So I, I had thought for a long time that I really wanted to work on some kind of a financial education program for low income women.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Now, Kathy\u2019s background is a little bit different.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: I\u2019m from Worcester, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: That\u2019s definitely a New England accent you hear!<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: I went straight from high school to work. I\u2019ve always done finance and operations for small businesses.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: She got involved in political movements\u2026<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: \u2026anti-nuclear movements and all the way up to Central American movements, and so I was always sort of working with the underdog. And I started volunteering at a homeless shelter 23 years ago. The part I like is helping the clients move on and get themselves out of there and into housing.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Here\u2019s Anita again.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: Then, Kathy and I met during, doing political campaigns, first for Deval Patrick --<\/p>\n<p>SUE: That\u2019s the former governor of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: In 2004.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: 2006 I think it was.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: Oh, was it? Okay. Mm-hm.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: Yeah, 2006. So we realized that we worked pretty well together and complemented each other in terms of the things that we liked to do.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: Yes. It\u2019s lucky that, you know, I don\u2019t like the podium, and luckily Anita does. So I do the finances and she does the writing so, perfect.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: They realized they shared an interest in helping homeless women.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: We sort of put our heads together and said, \u201cWell, how would we do this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SOT: So thank you very much for filling out all those lovely surveys.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: So the idea they came up with\u2026<\/p>\n<p>SUE: The Budget Buddies curriculum\u2026<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: It\u2019s a one-on-one workshop every other week\u2026<\/p>\n<p>SUE: For six months.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Mm-hm. And you\u2019ve got the homeless woman -- and then she\u2019s matched with a volunteer.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: That\u2019s a key part of the program -- the volunteer doesn\u2019t have to have a financial background -- these are pretty basic financial concepts -- but they need to commit to meeting one-on-one with their \u201cbuddies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: And then the buddy again is the woman in the shelter.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Exactly. <\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Got it.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: So in our first six years we\u2019ve had 35 programs at 19 different agencies, and so that\u2019s helped over 400 women. We know of no other program where there are volunteer coaches that are dedicated just to the women, one-to-one, and the coaches stay with her for the entire six-month period.<\/p>\n<p>SUE:  400 women! I mean, really, it\u2019s incredible how many women they\u2019ve helped.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Yeah, it really is. And they\u2019ve trained over 275 volunteer coaches, too.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: And those women come from all walks of life -- financial backgrounds for some but others are teachers, retired nurses, or active nurses. You just have to care about women helping women.<\/p>\n<p>SOT: Hi, how are you! So good to see you!<br \/>\n-You too. Nice to meet you.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: So let\u2019s just back up for a second here and talk about how this became a business.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Yeah. The word \u201cbootstrapped\u201d comes to mind.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: In fact, Sue, you had a chance to visit their very first office headquarters, as it were.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Yeah, sort of. I guess you could call it that. For the first five years, Anita and Kathy would meet at The Owl Diner. It\u2019s a classic old-fashioned diner, around the corner from one of the homeless shelters they work with. They\u2019d get a table and have strategy sessions over eggs. Eggs -- they are very into eggs!<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Or sometimes they\u2019d meet in Kathy\u2019s family room.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: So we had no overhead and we also had no salary --<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: -- for four years.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: So how did you two support yourselves?<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: Well, I was, I was still working full time as a, as a freelance financial writer.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: And I was working part time in another small startup doing the finances and operation. And it was like the year I could\u2019ve been thinking of retirement but I tried it for 20 minutes and it didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Like a lot of the women we\u2019re interviewing for \u201cGood on the Ground,\u201d they decided the nonprofit business model made the most sense.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: They formed a 501(c)(3) in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: Coming from a corporate background, it\u2019s been interesting to me how much help there is out there for nonprofits. And we got a $7,000 capacity building grant through the Department of Health and Human Services, which was enough to get the pilot off the ground.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: After that, they got grants from state agencies, family foundations and individuals.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: The first couple years, it\u2019s hard to convince funders that you\u2019re going to be around. You know, because you\u2019re running on volunteer fumes, you don\u2019t have any money, you know, how are you going to be sustainable?<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Budget Buddies now runs on a lean annual operating budget of $363,000. <\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Which is enough for Anita and Kathy to draw a modest -- very modest -- full-time salary, plus pay for an office.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Yeah. They finally moved out of the caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: And it helps them pay for a small but dedicated staff.<\/p>\n<p>*Musical Interlude*<\/p>\n<p>SUE: In coming years, Budget Buddies hopes to scale what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: It\u2019s stunning to us the changes in the buddies from the time they come into the program to the time we leave.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: It\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: 71% of our buddies leave the program saying that they feel confident about their ability to manage money, versus 21% when the program starts.<\/p>\n<p>SOT: I just want to know how many of you thought you would get here.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Locally they\u2019ve become something of a household name.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Now they want to train agencies in Boston and beyond to run their own programs based on Budget Buddies curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: One thing that\u2019s special is that Anita and Kathy still attend every first workshop.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: And then every graduation ceremony six months later.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: Personality wise, someone who couldn\u2019t look you in the eye to begin with is like talking away at graduation about how much she\u2019s learned, and where she\u2019s going, and what she\u2019s doing and so forth.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: One woman told Kathy the best part of the Budget Buddies program was that she didn\u2019t feel tagged.<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: And I said, \u201cTagged?\u201d She said, \u201cOh, yeah. When they know you\u2019re homeless you get treated differently.\u201d She said, \u201cI, we were just all women together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>*Musical Interlude*<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: There\u2019s a, there\u2019s a tradition we have at graduation. Because it\u2019s the last night that the group is going to be together, we have the buddies say something to the coach and the coach say something to the buddy. And it\u2019s just, we bring Kleenex --<\/p>\n<p>KATHY: Yeah. Very touching.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: We, it\u2019s really very emotional and it\u2019s largely because the buddies are just so grateful for the support that they\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: Let\u2019s listen to some tape we have of graduation night at House of Hope, a homeless shelter in Lowell, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p>SOT: Julie -- she is like family to me.<br \/>\n-Nessa has been given a bad set of circumstances -- but she has just come shining through. And I just think, like, you are just showing your daughter so much, because I know my daughter\u2019s a part of me and I know your daughter will be proud of you someday.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: And here\u2019s Anita talking to all the graduates.<\/p>\n<p>ANITA: You have done something that a lot of people never do. Never make a budget, never really put money away for savings, never track their expenses to see how much they\u2019re spending. So you are so far ahead of most of the people in this country. And for that, we give you applause.<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: And we give applause to Anita and Kathy, and we thank them for sharing their story.<\/p>\n<p>SUE: It\u2019s been a perfect podcast to begin our \u201cGood on the Ground\u201d series.<\/p>\n<p>*Musical Interlude*<\/p>\n<p>COLLEEN: Join us next time to hear more stories about innovative and inspirational women doing the things you\u2019d never dream of. Or\u2026maybe you would. This has been The Story Exchange. If you liked this podcast, please post a review on iTunes. It helps other people find the show. And visit our website at TheStoryExchange.org, where you\u2019ll find news, videos and tips for women entrepreneurs. Sound editing provided by Nusha Balyan. Interview recorded by Sam Shinn. Executive producers are Sue Williams and Victoria Wang.<\/p>\n<\/p>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<!--\/.accordion-accordion_content-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kathy Brough and Anita Saville created Budget Buddies to help homeless women break free of poverty, aided by a sisterhood of volunteer personal-finance coaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":31329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[19861,20227,19682],"class_list":["post-31328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-financial-literacy","tag-nonprofit-organizations","tag-women-empowerment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO 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