 Empowering Through Financial Education Common Wealth Charlotte provides trauma-informed financial education which empowers clients, through classroom and one-on-one settings, to make informed financial decisions . CWC's curriculum recognizes the physical, psychological and emotional trauma experienced by our most fragile working poor. |
 Expanding Access to Banking Common Wealth Charlotte provides clients access to second-chance full-service checking accounts and other attractive asset-building programs through our credit union and bank partners. |
 Providing Opportunity Loans A CWC Opportunity Loan offers a borrowing rate significantly below market based on access to 100% donor-funded collateral. This helps a client refinance predatory loans, provide rental deposits for housing and manage other financial emergencies while improving his or her credit score throughout repayment. |
Common Wealth Charlotte (CWC), an innovative non-profit started in April 2015, provides financial empowerment to Charlotte's low-wage workers through financial education coupled with access to specially designed re-banking and emergency loan products. Our trauma-informed financial education curriculum meets people where they are, and results in long-lasting change and enhanced opportunities for upward mobility for financially-educated low-wage workers. Trauma-informed financial education is an emerging best practice, incorporating a deep understanding and recognition of the physical, psychological, and emotional trauma caused by scarcity and experienced by our most fragile working poor. It responds by empowering clients in a classroom or one-to-one setting to create an environment of safety, trustworthiness, transparency, peer support, mutual respect, consumer choice, and culturally relevant discourse.