For many of us, saving money is one of those things that always seems easier next month.
There’s the unexpected home or car repair. The school expense you didn’t see coming. The bill that’s a little higher than expected. And when there isn’t much margin in the budget to begin with, building an emergency fund can feel like a goal that keeps moving farther away.
For a new group of participants in Historic South Atlanta, FCS’s Financial Achievement Club, in partnership with United Way of Greater Atlanta and House Proud Atlanta, is creating structure, encouragement, and a pretty compelling reason to start now.
Six Months, One Savings Goal
Last month, staff from Carver Market and Community Grounds joined residents of Historic South Atlanta to kick off a new Financial Achievement Club cohort.
Over the next six months, participants will meet monthly while working toward a shared goal of saving at least $100 each month.
By the end of the program, each participant who meets that goal will have saved $600 of their own money. Those savings will then be matched dollar for dollar, giving them an emergency savings account of at least $1,200.
The math is simple. The potential impact is much bigger.
“I’ve wanted to save, but I don’t have a lot of extra money after paying for the things I need each month,” shared one participant. “When I heard about the Financial Achievement Club, the match definitely caught my attention. If I can save $600 and have that matched, that feels like a great starting point. And honestly, I think getting to $1,200 would make me want to keep going. It would show me that I can actually build savings.”
Building Assets Alongside Opportunity
The Financial Achievement Club is one piece of our broader Economic Vitality work.
Healthy neighborhoods should be places where neighbors have access to meaningful work, opportunities for professional growth, housing security, and pathways to build generational wealth. That’s one reason businesses like Carver Market and Community Grounds matter. They bring needed goods and services to the neighborhood while also creating local employment opportunities.
But a paycheck is only one part of the economic mobility equation.
Asset building creates opportunities for people to strengthen their financial foundation, whether that means establishing emergency savings, building credit, planning for the future, or growing wealth over time.
“We are building bridges between people, partners, and opportunities,” said Kim Jones, FCS Director of Economic Vitality. “It’s about helping people access and navigate resources while also showing them how to use those resources effectively. When people have a job, then assets, then opportunities to grow their money, that’s when real economic mobility starts to happen.”
The Financial Achievement Club helps build that bridge by combining financial education, coaching, and matched savings with something participants bring themselves: their own goals and commitment.
Building on What We’ve Learned
This newest group isn’t our first Financial Achievement Club.
Several cohorts have already completed the six-month program, including a group of 25 senior citizens in Thomasville Heights last year.
Now, the newest cohort brings the model closer to home for FCS staff and Historic South Atlanta neighbors, while reflecting a principle central to FCS’s approach to neighborhood development. Lasting change happens through relationships, shared investment, and neighbors taking an active role in shaping their own futures.
And this group is just getting started.
After the first meeting, they were tasked with opening a new savings account, obtaining their credit score, and creating a spreadsheet to better understand their spending over the previous three months and track it moving forward. With their second meeting coming up, participants still have months of saving ahead of them. There will undoubtedly be challenges along the way. Saving $100 every month requires intention, especially when other expenses compete for those dollars.
But month by month, those $100 deposits will begin adding up, and six months from now, participants who reach their goal won’t simply have a larger number in a savings account. They’ll have spent six months practicing a habit that can continue long after the Financial Achievement Club ends.
That’s an achievement worth building on.
FCS’s Financial Achievement Club is offered in partnership with NALCAB and Bank OZK. Together, we are bringing resources, expertise, and relationships together to help neighbors pursue greater financial security and independence.
