Many of our residents come to our doors with overwhelming amounts of debt, causes by medical crisis, legal fees, and a host of other issues. For many, they have never been taught the skills needed to manage their finances responsibly and to deal with the unexpected.

At COTS, teaching residents financial management is one of our major focuses. When they first move in, each resident sets financial goals with COTS staff. Each resident takes Dave Ramsay’s Financial Peace University, a 9-session financial literacy course, during their first 90 days at COTS. They also submit a budget each month, which they review with their Program Service Coordinator.

Residents leave COTS in a much better financial situation than when they entered. One resident recently finished paying off $1,400 in medical debt from surgery he had just over a year ago. In the six months he’s lived at COTS, another resident paid off $5,000 in debt and was able to purchase his own car. After residents move out, we reinforce financial lessons learned at COTS through our Aftercare Program.

We would like to thank Principal Financial Group and the U.S. Bank Foundation for providing funding for our financial literacy initiative.