More Than a Budget: How Financial Literacy Empowers Youth with Disabilities to Own Their Future

We all know that young person preparing to make the leap to adulthood. Protected for years with financial safety nets, they’re now tasked with learning new skills, new muscles they never needed to flex. We celebrate first jobs, first paychecks, first steps towards independence, but the question we don’t ask often enough: What happens after the paycheck arrives? You know you need to save some of it, spend some of it responsibly, and try your best to make it stretch until the next. Now imagine navigating that without ever having learned how to manage a budget or track expenses, operating only on the expectation that, at 18, you’ll figure it out.

For many young people with disabilities, this isn’t a hypothetical. It’s a Tuesday afternoon.

Financial literacy is more than just a life skill topic; it’s rooted in disability rights and the Independent Living Movement. We can’t address employment, housing, or self-determination meaningfully without it. And too often, financial education is designed without the disability perspective or access in mind.

Money Matters

ECNV offers this 5-part virtual training series to help young people navigate these skills, many for the first time ever. The disability experience is weaved throughout the lessons, making the learning more topical. The following topics addressed in the series aim to build foundational knowledge:

·       What is Money: How can it be earned, lost, saved, and spent

·       Budgeting Basics: Financial wants, needs, and obligations

·       Financial Infrastructure: Identifying types of bank accounts and credit products

·       Financial Safety: Identifying and avoiding scams and financial abuse

·       Self-Determination: Earn, save, and spend money on your own terms

Money Moves

ECNV offers this week-long camp during Spring and Summer Breaks where students engage in financial skill-building activities and field trips, giving them hands-on, real-world experience where money moves. Pulling from the same topics addressed in Money Matters, Money Moves turns grounded instruction into practice. The camp offers the opportunity to try, make mistakes, and grow in a supported environment where the stakes aren’t so high. Throughout the week, participants engage in:

·       Daily Budgeting: Actively managing money; choosing what they can buy from the camp store, managing transit cards, budgeting daily lunches, and tracking everything on a daily basis

·       Planning and Preparation: Plan a field trip with a provided budget, identifying everything from the event itself to transportation and lunch.

·       Grocery Shopping: Choosing a recipe on budget, purchasing the items, and making a plan to cook it at home

·       Community Enrichment: Spending, saving, and managing money doesn’t occur in a vacuum; it happens on metro trains, in museums, and everywhere else people are

Adult Services

At ECNV, we understand that financial literacy can be a life-long journey. We provide individualized services for adults, providing one-on-one support, helping folks gain the confidence, knowledge, and resources to achieve their goals and live independently.

“Thank you very much for the wonderful opportunity…[My son] had a great time learning and understanding…it was a pleasure to be a part of it.”

“Me and my mom had so much fun eating the parfaits we made together!”

Sign-Up Today

If you could benefit from and are interested in ECNV’s financial management services and/or programs, talk to your DARS counselor, your support coordinator, or reach out to us directly at info@ecnv.org!