Toinette Rivas: Advisory Board Profile

Toinette Rivas is a founding member of Compass’ Advisory Board. She currently works in institutional equity sales at Bernstein, following several years in research and sales at Credit Suisse. Toinette is a native of Miami, Florida and a graduate of Colby College. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her family.

We recently sat down with Toinette to learn more about what drew her to get involved with Compass and what she wants others to know about the organization.

Compass: You’ve been involved with Compass in several different capacities for more than six years. What was it that initially attracted you to the organization?

Toinette: I first learned about Compass through a friend who was on the Board. I’m a big believer in nonprofits that focus on giving people the tools they need to succeed. Also, I grew up in Miami with a mother who is a social worker for the elderly. I’ve seen how much time she spends with her clients on finances and what they can afford. Through my mom’s work I have seen the gap that exists for people in terms of having the financial information they need to move forward. Solving this gap is at the heart of Compass’ mission.

I also really connect to Compass because of its focus on serving women and the Hispanic community. My grandparents came to this country from Cuba, and were able to get the tools and help they needed to succeed. Today in Massachusetts, that’s not the case for a lot of others, and I feel like Compass is helping to change that.

Compass: Can you tell us a little bit about the different ways you’ve supported Compass over the years?

Toinette: I’ve always been involved with the Annual Breakfast Benefit – inviting people in my network to attend, and giving Compass a chance to share its work with more people. Over the last couple years, I’ve been involved with the Advisory Board and the Board Program Committee. That’s given me the chance to really understand the work Compass does and its impact, such as the recent study by Abt Associates on the Compass model, or the opt-out pilot in Cambridge.

Compass: You mentioned having done a lot of work to introduce other people you know to Compass. What do you usually tell people about Compass to get them interested?

Toinette: It’s an easy story to sell. Everyone has their own personal experience of not understanding a credit card statement or mortgage statement and so on. And there’s the recognition that all of us have gotten help to get to where we are, so it’s important for us to provide that same support to others. I talk about how the program is really focused on supporting people and giving them the tools to reach their own goals. I also talk about the American Dream – Compass is helping people to build savings, to create a better life for themselves and their families.

Compass: Do you have any favorite memories from your involvement with Compass?

Toinette: My favorite part has been seeing Compass grow. When I met the Founder, Sherry, for coffee six years ago, Compass didn’t even have its own office in Boston. It’s incredible to have watched the organization grow from Cambridge and Lynn to across New England and the nation. The model is so scalable and there is truly such a big opportunity for Compass to change so many peoples’ lives. I also love seeing the individual client’s stories – Rosa’s video is my favorite.

Compass: Do you have any big goals or ideas that you'd like to bring to your work with Compass in the future?

Toinette: I know Compass is really focused on serving families, but I feel like there’s an opportunity to help more young people figure out a financial road map. Some of the basic financial education that Compass provides can help young people, too. My sister is a volunteer with a mentoring program and I was able to connect her mentee with a coach at Compass for some advice. It was great to see how that kind of connection was such a help to her, too.

A reflection from one of the first people to enroll in our new FSS program in Philadelphia

In late October, Compass celebrated our new FSS partnership in Philadelphia at an event hosted by GreenLight Fund - Philadelphia. The event included Philadelphia’s top leaders across the nonprofit sector, corporate executives, entrepreneurs and investors, and city and state government leadership, as well as our partners Philadelphia Housing Authority and Clarifi. 

Akirah Pressley, who is one of the very first people to enroll in this new program, shared the following words at the launch event:

Good evening. My name is Akirah Pressley, and I am one of the first people to enroll in the Compass FSS program run by Clarifi.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia. I am 26 years old, and have moved over 20 times in my lifetime. That is one reason why my main goal in this program is to become a homeowner. I want a place called my own, and the stability that owning a home can give.

The other reason I want to own a home is my son. He will be 9 years old next month. I don’t want him to go through the same things that I had to go through. I want him to have a place that he can point to and say “this is where I grew up.”

I had my son young, when I was 17. I’ve learned a lot of things since then, but I’ve had to learn them on my own. I want better than what I had and where I came from. I want better for my son.

If it wasn’t for PHA, I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent. I know a lot of people are embarrassed of being on PHA. They won’t go in to ask for help or resources. And there’s a lot of people with negative things to say about people on PHA, like you’re walking around with all this extra money because PHA helps with your rent. You have to understand that the money you earn is broken down into a percentage. And I still have to pay my own gas and electric, get to work, take care of my child. What I want is to not have to wonder where I’m going to get the money to take care of things in my life, to have to choose between paying a bill or something else. I’ve been working at it, and every year I become better.

But I feel like if I had had someone to guide me, that there’s a lot of things I went through that I wouldn’t have had to go through. 

Clarifi is one place that has already really helped me. I’ve been working with Clarifi since 2015. I feel appreciated at Clarifi. I feel like you all care that I am a person who wants to do better. You want to help me because I want to help myself. With Clarifi’s help, I’ve worked on bringing down my debt and have started to build some savings. I have saved what I could, but I would like to have been able to save more.

I know I need to save more in order to reach my goals, and this FSS program means I don’t have to do that alone, on my own. I started off in my first job making $5,000 a year, working part-time as a retail associate at Macy’s. Now I work as a one-to-one assistant in Philadelphia Public Schools, and have another job as well.

I know with this program that the more I make, the more I save. The program rewards me for hard work. That’s a motivation for me. Right now, I’m in school part-time for early childhood education. I plan to eventually open my own daycare business. And when I do, I want it to be a place where other parents can learn about programs and resources that can help, because I am the type of person who will share what I learn, when I find something that’s beneficial to me.

I also share what I learn with my son. At 8 years old, he already knows things like the difference between a credit and a debit card. He has also started his own savings, and we are planning to open a savings account for him soon.

To close, I just want to say that I believe that everyone deserves a chance and an opportunity to do better, and that there a lot of people in Philadelphia who are looking for a program like this. Thank you.

Congress Should Increase HUD Funding in 2019 to Prevent Voucher Cuts, Help Children Escape Poverty

Compass and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities both call on Congress to increase funding for the Family Self-Sufficiency program to $100 million in 2019, which would allow up to 30,000 more families to participate.
Read more here.

10th Annual Breakfast Benefit

This year’s breakfast program featured stories from Compass clients and staff, and a special guest speaker - Andrea Campbell, the new President of Boston's City Council. It was also a chance for us to lift up and celebrate the ways in which our work has grown over the past year, including the expansion of our National Network to serve mission-aligned partners in seven states across the country.

Amatullah Mervin, one of our client speakers, shared her experience as a participant in the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program that we operate in partnership with Cambridge Housing Authority. In her remarks, Amatullah talked about what the program has meant for her, her sister (who is also enrolled in the program), and their family: "People talk about the cycle of poverty, and I hesitate to say this, but it can really be more of a curse. We’ve seen how it passes from one generation to the next...My sister and I are both breaking that cycle for ourselves and for our family."

We also shared a video featuring Lidia German, who is a recent graduate of the FSS program that we operate in partnership with Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development. Lidia is one of 46 clients whom we celebrated at our second annual FSS graduation in Lynn last week. Together, these 46 clients have saved over $310,000 in their FSS savings accounts, and used those savings to reach their financial goals. For Lidia, that goal was to own a home, where she could gather her children and grandchildren together. As Lidia shared, “I have accomplished more than I ever thought I could. It’s the best feeling to be able to own my home.”
View photographs from the Breakfast here.

Brown Advisory NOW 2018

Sherry Riva, Compass' Founder and Executive Director,  joined a panel discussion last month on the women's wealth gap. The panel was a part of NOW, Brown Advisory’s flagship client investment conference. Sherry was joined on the panel by Elena Chavez Quezada, a founding partner for the Closing the Women’s Wealth Gap Initiative. Thanks to Brown Advisory for lifting up this important topic, and for including Compass in the conversation.

Boston Magazine: The 100 Most Influential People in Boston

In its May issue, Boston Magazine published its annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in Boston. Two members of the Compass family made the list this year, including Greg Shell (pictured here), our founding board member, and Betty Francisco, Compass' General Counsel. We are thrilled to see both these leaders recognized alongside many others who play major roles in shaping the city of Boston.
Click here to see the full list.

AFCPE® Financial Literacy Month Spotlight: Carlos Langa, Esq., AFC®

AFCPE® (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education®) is celebrating Financial Literacy Month with a spotlight on Accredited Financial Counselors across the country, including Compass Program Manager, Carlos Langa.
Click here to learn about his favorite personal finance resources. 

Abt Policy Brief

Following the release of two reports from their study of our local Family Self-Sufficiency programs, Abt Associates recently released a brief on the implications of these studies for national practice and policy.
Click here to read more and to view the brief in full.

Lynn, MA 2018 Graduation

On April 12th, Compass and our partners at Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development honored 46 graduates of the Lynn FSS program. Together, these graduates saved over $310,000 in their FSS savings accounts, and used those savings to reach their financial goals. It was an honor for us to celebrate these incredible families.
View photographs from the graduation here. 

Abt Associates releases interim cost-benefit analysis of Compass programs

Today, the global research firm Abt Associates released an interim cost-benefit analysis of Compass Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) programs in Lynn and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The study found that participants in these programs gained more than $10,000 in increased income over a five-year period as a result of participation in the program, at a net cost to the government of only $276 per participant. The $10,000 figure accounts for reductions to participants’ federal benefits, such as federal welfare benefits, as their earnings improved. These reductions - along with other cost savings - offset 97 percent of the cost of administering the programs.  

Click to read the full report.

Early Results from Compass-POAH Partnership Captured in Whitepaper

For the past two years, Compass has partnered with the nonprofit Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) to implement some of the very first FSS programs in the country for families who live in properties like the ones POAH owns and manages: federally subsidized affordable housing that is owned and managed by a private organization or company. Early participant outcomes from these programs have been very promising, and are captured in this whitepaper that we co-authored with POAH about the partnership. Click here to read the report.

National Network Annual Convening 2017

On November 14th-15th, we hosted an Annual Convening of partners in our National Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Network. This event was an opportunity to gather all of our current Network partners, plus Compass staff, for two days of learning, networking, and planning for our upcoming year of work together. Partners joined us from all over the country, including: Chicago, IL; Independence, MO; Portland, ME; Jackson, MS; and elsewhere. The two days were filled with energy, excitement, and a powerful sense of community and partnership. We are grateful to have such mission aligned national partners and look forward to the year ahead. We hope you enjoy these photographs from the convening. 

Brown Advisory's Boston Innovates Series - The Future of the American Dream: Confronting the Wealth Divide

Thanks to our friends in Brown Advisory's Boston office for convening a roundtable discussion last night on “The Future of the American Dream: Confronting the Wealth Divide” as part of their Boston Innovates Series. The event featured Thomas Shapiro, author of "Toxic Inequality: How America’s Wealth Gap Destroys Mobility, Deepens the Racial Divide, and Threatens Our Future,” and Sherry Riva, Compass’s Founder and Executive Director. We thoroughly enjoyed this timely dialogue.

Peter J. Gomes Award presented by U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton

Sandra Suarez, Compass's Operations Manager, was recently recognized as a finalist for the Peter J. Gomes Award presented by U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton, which honors an individual in the Congressman's district who "best epitomizes the qualities of integrity, compassion, and commitment to community."

Rigorous, independent study confirms impact of Compass FSS program on family economic security

Abt Associates released today the results of their rigorous evaluation of Compass Working Capital’s model for the federal Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program. The report points to Compass’s model as a promising approach for helping participants in federal rental assistance programs to increase earnings, build assets and pay down debt.

This study joins a small number of rigorous evaluations of the FSS program that have been conducted to date. It is the first study to examine credit and debt outcomes for FSS program participants, which are two key indicators of household financial security. Abt Associates followed rental assistance recipients in FSS programs offered by Compass in partnership with local housing authorities in Lynn and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

After an average of 40 months in the program, participants in the Compass FSS program earned more and received less welfare payments than their matched peers. They also achieved positive credit and debt outcomes that exceeded benchmarks. Specific findings include:

• Increased Earnings: Participation in the Compass FSS program was associated with an average gain in annual earnings of $6,305

• Reduced Debt: Compass FSS participants experienced an average decrease in total derogatory debt of $764 and an average decrease in credit card debt of $655

• Stronger Credit: The average credit score rose by 23 points, among those Compass FSS participants who entered the program with a score. The share of participants with a prime credit score rose by 14 percentage points.

• Reduced Welfare income: Participation in Compass FSS was associated with a decline of $496 in annual welfare payments

FSS is a 25-year old U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program designed to help recipients of federal rental assistance make progress toward economic security. The evaluation confirms that well-run, voluntary FSS programs can support families with low incomes to increase their earnings and become more financially secure. These results also add further weight to calls to streamline and improve the FSS program - a chief aim of the bipartisan legislation recently introduced by U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Jack Reed (D-RI), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).

Compass partners with public housing authorities, nonprofit housing organizations, and private housing owners to administer an innovative asset building approach to FSS. Like traditional FSS programs, Compass FSS provides participants with an escrow account that increases in value as participants’ earnings and rent contributions increase. In addition, Compass FSS offers client-driven financial coaching to help participants build their financial capability and savings, pay down high-interest debt, make progress in achieving their employment goals and improve their credit scores and budgeting. Compass now operates this FSS model at ten sites in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The organization is also supporting local partners across the country to integrate core aspects of the Compass FSS model into their local FSS programs, through a national training and technical assistance network.

Click here to learn more about the study at Abt Associates’s website.

A letter from Compass's Executive Director on the launch of our National FSS Network

On Monday, September 19, 2016 Compass officially launched our National FSS Network, which will provide training and technical assistance to implementing partners across the country. As part of the launch, these founding partners gathered for three days of training to learn more about how to integrate aspects of Compass's asset building model for the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program into their own local FSS programs.

In celebration of this exciting new venture for Compass, our Founder and Executive Director, Sherry Riva, composed a letter detailing the history of this effort and our vision for this network. Click here to read the letter in full.

Compass selected as finalist for statewide NonProfit Excellence Award

Compass is honored to have been selected by the Massachusetts NonProfit Network (MNN) as a finalist for the NonProfit Excellence Award in Innovation. According to MNN, judges reviewed over 200 nominations for seven nonprofit awards, honoring the "dedication, passion, and impact" of nonprofit organizations and leaders across the state. Winners will be announced on June 27, 2016 at the State House, as part of the organization's annual NonProfit Awareness Day. We look forward to connecting that day with all the fantastic finalists and other great organizations working to improve life for all people here in Massachusetts.

For more about the awards and a complete list of finalists, click here.

Compass releases report on national roundtable "Integrating Asset Building and Financial Capability Strategies into Subsidized Housing Programs"

On November 19, 2015, more than 65 practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and researchers gathered at a roundtable sponsored by Compass Working Capital to discuss opportunities to integrate asset building and financial capability strategies into subsidized housing programs. The roundtable focused in particular on opportunities offered by the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program – an initiative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designed to help residents of subsidized housing increase their earnings and build savings. The roundtable also considered a broader set of opportunities, including the possibility of modifying the basic model of subsidized housing to build in regular, automatic savings for all housing subsidy participants.

As a follow up to the roundtable, Compass is pleased to release a report that summarizes the broad themes discussed at the roundtable and captures a set of next steps for moving forward a common agenda designed to maximize opportunities for subsidized housing participants to build assets and financial capability. Click the image below to view the full report.

Compass to launch housing policy innovation pilot in Cambridge

This winter, in partnership with Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA), Compass will launch a pilot project to test the impact of automatically providing all residents of a public housing development with a special savings account, into which CHA will deposit half of any increased rent that the resident pays as a result of increased earnings. Check out this blog post from our partners at Abt Associates to learn more about the program and its potential to reshape the experience of subsidized housing programs for many low-income families.

Compass Executive Director named GLG Social Impact Fellow

We are excited to share that Sherry Riva, Founder and Executive Director of Compass Working Capital, has been named a 2015 GLG Social Impact Fellow. The Social Impact Fellowship gives twelve leaders and their organizations ongoing access to one-on-one learning from GLG’s global teaching membership. It is an honor for Compass to be included alongside other nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs who are implementing innovative approaches to address complex social issues. To learn more about the fellowship and this year's class, visit glgsocialimpact.com/fellows or watch this short video on the recent fellows convening in New York:

GLG Social Impact Fellowship brings together twelve of the world's most promising nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs. To kick-off the Fellowship, GLG convened the Fellows for two days of teaching, learning, and networking with the GLG community. This year's class focuses on key challenges including healthcare, poverty, sustainability, and girls' and women's empowerment.