What begins as a savings program often becomes something much bigger – a turning point.
Through Hope through Housing’s Money Match Savings Program, 45 National CORE households have not only saved $96,800 this year – they’ve built new habits, restored confidence and discovered a sense of control over their future.
Part of the Pathways to Economic Empowerment initiative, this six-month program helps residents strengthen financial skills and reach long-term goals. But what happens along the way is something you can’t measure in dollars. It’s empowerment. It’s pride. It’s hope.
For Lashon, a grandmother at Arbor Villas in Orange, the program sparked a vision she once thought was out of reach.
“After going through the program, I’m focused and excited about saving so I can leave something behind for my grandson,” she said.
At Shadow Hill in Santee, Ninfa found the confidence to invest in herself.
“By participating in the program, I learned how to check my credit without damaging it,” she said. “The money I saved is helping me go back to school. Once that’s paid for, I know how to build my emergency savings.”
And at Mountainside in Rancho Cucamonga, Evamarie discovered something even deeper.
“It brought me back to reality about credit, budgeting, and what financial stability really means,” she said. “It wasn’t just the Money Match program; I found new hope in myself.”
That’s the power of this work – real lives transformed. Families who once felt stuck are now saving, planning and believing in what’s possible.
Lashon, a grandmother from Arbor Villas in Orange, once saw credit as a mystery. Ninfa, at Shadow Hill in Santee, never knew where her money was going. Evamarie, from Mountainside in Rancho Cucamonga, didn’t know how to start saving.
Six months later, everything looks different.
Lashon is saving to buy a home. Ninfa is back in school. Evamarie has built not just financial stability – but confidence in herself.
Each of these women is a graduate of Hope through Housing’s Money Match Savings Program, part of the Pathways to Economic Empowerment initiative. Through one-on-one coaching, financial workshops, and a dollar-for-dollar savings match of up to $1,200, residents learn how to budget, manage credit and set real goals for the future.
This year, 45 residents completed the program, saving a total of $96,800 – the program’s most successful year yet. At graduation celebrations across Orange County, San Diego and the Inland Empire, the joy was unmistakable.
“It wasn’t just the Money Match program,” said Evamarie. “I found new hope in myself.”
As Alyssa Cotter, executive director of Hope through Housing, shared: “Graduates walk away with the knowledge and confidence to plan for their future. It’s incredibly empowering.”
The results speak for themselves – 93% completion rate, 81% reducing debt, 53% improving credit scores.
But the real success is harder to measure: lives changed, confidence restored and futures rewritten.
Money Match proves that when people have the tools and support to take control of their finances, hope becomes action – and lives are transformed.