Golden State Opportunity and Presenting Sponsor Aspiration partner for “Building Financial Security” series in English and Spanish

SAN FRANCISCO —Today, Golden State Opportunity (GSO) and Aspiration jointly announced a free monthly webinar series to help low-income workers better understand and protect their personal finances during the pandemic. As Californians face unprecedented pay cuts and job losses, the new webinar series will teach attendees how to create family budgets, build emergency savings, establish or repair credit, and access public benefits.

The year-long “Building Financial Security” webinar series is presented by Aspiration, a socially conscious online banking company and community of two million values-driven consumers using financial services to automate and amplify their social impact. A new hour-long webinar will be released each month until September 2021. All of the webinars will be available in English with Spanish language interpretation.

“COVID-19 has exposed major holes in our social safety net and revealed how few low-income workers can make ends meet if their paychecks suddenly shrink or stop coming,” said GSO President Amy Everitt. “Working families need the tools to navigate these challenging times, plan for financial burdens, and get access to vital resources. We are excited to partner with Aspiration to help us reach even more Californians, in English and Spanish, at this critical time.”

“We are very excited to support the ‘Building Financial Security’ webinar series, an innovative approach to sharing the financial skills and information that working families need most,” said Aspiration Co-Founder Joe Sanberg. “GSO is doing invaluable work to help low-income workers recover, learn and thrive. We could not ask for better partners in our community’s mission to build a better world.”

The first webinar, “Setting Financial Goals” will stream live on Zoom and GSO’s Facebook Live at 3pm. Co-hosted by Los Angeles-based nonprofit Barrio Action Youth and Family Center, this webinar will teach attendees how to create a plan for achieving realistic and measurable financial goals such as paying off high-interest loans or building emergency savings.

“The focus of Barrio Action Youth and Family Centers’ financial literacy program is
to empower low- and moderate-income families on their journey to financial health by implementing community centered financial literacy workshops, and participant-driven, 1:1 financial coaching,” said Walter Cruz, Barrio Action’s Financial Coach.

COVID-19 has placed extraordinary pressures on families trying to make ends meet. A recent Public Policy Institute of California survey found that 7 in 10 adults in California are very (35%) or somewhat (36%) worried that the coronavirus will hurt their personal finances. Nearly half of adults in households earning less than $40,000 a year said they were very worried (49%).

WHO: Golden State Opportunity and Barrio Action
WHAT: ‘Setting Financial Goals’ webinar
WHERE: Zoom Webinar and Facebook Live
WHEN: Thursday, September 24 at 3pm