Low-income and homeless individuals and families in Little Rock will have a new tool that will address financial resources available to them.
The City of Little Rock and the nonprofit Our House have partnered to launch a virtual “Financial Resources Hotline” that is aimed at helping individuals that are low income, homeless or nearly homeless and who have been hard hit by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Through the hotline, Little Rock residents can receive remote resource referrals and service deliveries.
During hotline sessions, which typically last roughly 30 minutes, trained “Navigators” will guide callers through available local, state and federal resources. The navigators can help callers with prioritizing living expenses, managing debt, budgeting for loss income, accessing social services and more.
“Financial stability through education, employment, and savings has always been the backbone of Our House’s approach. When the pandemic hit, we knew we needed to meet the needs of our clients in new ways,” Our House executive director Beth Goodwin said in a statement. “The Financial Resources Hotline is our way of helping people in our community who are experiencing unprecedented challenges. We know that navigating resources can be overwhelming, especially in such a rapidly changing environment. We are pleased to be able to offer people some help with this struggle, thanks to the generous investment from the CFE Fund and the great partnership we have with the City of Little Rock.”
According to an Our House survey, 66 percent of the nonprofit’s service population had lost employment or had hours cut, resulting in increased stress levels, as well as financial insecurity and housing instability. In a similar survey from the City of Little Rock, 55 percent of families that participated in the Summer Youth Employment Program had a high level of need.
This free hotline was enabled by a $80,000 grant from the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund. It is an expansion of Our House’s existing hotline, which has been operational since April 2020 and fields approximately 500 calls per month, according to a City of Little Rock news release.
The hotline can be accessed here or by calling 501-291-0584.
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