Faith & Finances. Clerestory’s primary curriculum to promote financial literacy is Faith and Finances (“F&F”). F&F is an 11-session financial education program for low- to moderate-income individuals developed by The Chalmers Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The program is designed for churches and other Christian organizations who have a desire to walk alongside learners over the long term. F&F offers a context for people to learn best practices of financial literacy, including saving, expense tracking, and building productive assets. Even more, as part of God’s work in the world, people in all income levels discover that they play a key role in God’s kingdom, using their resources to restore broken relationships.
Individual Development Accounts. Individual development accounts, also known as IDA’s, are short-term matched savings accounts typically lasting two years or less. Through an application process, graduates of F&F are offered the opportunity to build assets for one or more of the following: housing, education, transportation, or medical needs. The matching by Clerestory begins once the deposited funds have remained in the account at least 90 days.
Clerestory currently has a number of F&F graduates participating in its IDA program. The accounts are set-up at Regions Bank.
