Program Spotlight
Unbroken LLC & Aaron Cruz
Unbroken LLC Program Profile
Unbroken Finance has been providing financial education and our community over the last seven years. Our mission statement is empowering people to make better financial decisions that align with purpose. Our focus is completely designed for those coming out of treatment centers for drugs and Alcohol. We design our program for many different treatment centers across our region. We understand that.
Many addicts enter rehabilitation treatment centers and inpatient programs, essentially locking the skills to handle financial responsibility for themselves and their loved ones. Those who cannot manage their money prior to rehab will likely struggle a successful treatment and odds are the struggle with financial security can lead to relapse. This is why financial training is so crucial for recovering addicts to find success and happiness and recovery. Financial training means everything to those who are struggling with addiction and seeking rehab services. Financial stability revolves around teaching a recovering addict to gain control and responsibility over finances so that their sobriety is not threatened or at risk.
Over the years we have impacted so many lives, and over the last year, we decided we needed to do more. The demand is too big. So we’ve opened a coaching program. This coaching program Takes it to a one on one individual help beyond the classroom. This is where we have seen the most success in lives changed. Right now Unbroken Finance has hired one more certified financial coach with the NFEC, and another is studying as we speak. We are adding coaches to meet the demand.
Aaron Cruz
In the local community alone, we speak to about 60-80 people per week, men and women. And we do this every week. We follow the NFEC outline and curriculum. There is so much material to fit our needs. Our program starts with financial behaviors and psychology, followed by learning how to budget and some fun activities and budget games, followed by credit building, debt management, risk management, investment introduction, love, relationships, and money, banking, and account management, and more. We typically repeat the cycle as new participants join and all participants graduate treatment. The program’s best qualities are being able to meet the participants where they’re at and relate to them in so many ways. We design a program for the needs of those in it, rather than a generic cookie cutter financial management course. We take a survey at the end of each class and about 90% of the participants want to continue ongoing coaching with us and further their money management skills. One of the best qualities we have is being able to present this material in a way that relates to them and open up our doors to hear them and their needs and bring in the resources in the community to help them further.
Left: An event post for a February workshop with Unbroken Finance. See their Facebook account for more information.
Participant Success & Accomplishments
We have had some amazing stories come through this program. Probably too much to list here. These are two of my favorite stories. One individual was facing returning to prison for 10 years after he completed treatment. He was so excited to have the opportunity to learn that his life can turn around, while also facing the possibility that he could go back to prison for 10 years. He had money issues with banks, the federal government, drug issues, and so forth. He was in bad shape. I came alongside him, helped him get a job, and wrote letters to the judge mentioning our work on creating good financial habits. I talked to a local company that I have a business relationship with who gave him a job, I brought him a bike so he could go to his job interview and get to work. After a year of working with the court, his sentence was dropped, and he made it all the way to a Foreman position. He then invested in a 401(k), which I am the financial manager of. He now has investment accounts for his kids, is married, and has a nice house and is living free.
In another case, we had a woman come through our class. We helped her create the first emergency fund she’s ever had. Her goal is to move to a different city where she could be closer to our kids. She was working hard and did everything she could to get there, and did well considering the struggle. She had $1,000 saved and then everything came crashing down with her job. The next class we met, she was actually really excited. She said for the first time ever that she had money, and it’s all gone now, but she had it and was able to take care of my emergencies without being homeless or going back to drugs. This saved her life.
NFEC Resources and Plans for Future Impact
I am an NFEC Certified Financial Education Instructor and use the adult program with PDFs. It helps the class because it is unbiased material and it creates a guided program to keep us on track with a goal in sight.
I have been a fully licensed financial professional for over 15 years. I am also an NFEC Certified Financial Education Instructor and use NFEC materials and resources. This is been a huge component of my program and it success. I love how I can print what I need and custom design the class accordingly. I can use the material that I specifically need for the class and branch off from there. I love the activity based solutions, and the participants love that as well. They love being able to have active lessons rather than just speaking.
Plans for Future Growth
My plan for growing the impact of our program is to extend our one on one coaching program. This is where we’ve seen the most success and the most demand. We are bringing on more coaches and plan to be available in treatment centers across America. We have a subscription-based coaching program that allows people in tough situations to be able to afford one on one coaching with a professional.