Skills For Living offers working poor families free weekly college-style programs empowering families to increase their income and savings to achieve financial security and independence.

Course One - What Do You Want? From Current Reality to Your Future.

Create your future and discover the opportunity you have to achieve your goals by working smarter, not harder. This 8-hour Saturday course is offered at a central Houston location, bringing together families and mentors as they develop an Action Plan for the future.

Course Two - What Do You Want? A Career or a Job?

? Learn how to work smart and either achieve a raise and promotion or find the career you love with an increase in pay. S4L will teach you how to identify and market your skills in this 8 week, 2-hour per week course offered in several Houston communities. The course concludes with a special 8-hour session offering a variety of topics from Dress For Success, to Salesmanship, Managing a Career with Children and Wise Words for Employees.

Course Three - Achieving Financial Security and Independence.

Everyone wants to be financially secure and independent, but how do you turn wishes into a reality?  This 8 week, 2-hour per week course offered in several Houston communities. Teaches banking, credit, taxes, planning, insurance, investing and concludes with a special 8-hour session with an experiential stock market game.

Course Four - Maximizing Life Skills?

There are skills everyone should know - from buying a home and car, protesting property taxes, obtaining continuing education, life insurance and estate documents. This 7-week, 2-hour per week course ends with an 8-hour special session where families receive free wills, free insurance and donated notebook computers if they have achieved their goals.

The family goals are:

1. To increase earned income by 20% in one year
2. To increase net worth by 20% in one year
3. To pass a comprehensive financial literacy exam
4. To volunteer 4 hours per month for Skills For Living or a collaborator
5. To complete all homework assignments to the best of their ability
6. To achieve all benchmarks, marking  success in the course

What life skills are developed in this program?

20-20 Power Workshops develop skills in two key areas:

• Career Planning - Individuals in S4L programs often work two jobs, 60 hours a week, earning less than $22,000 a year. Unlike welfare and public assistance recipients, S4L families want to become financially secure by finding better paying jobs with benefits. Career planning helps families identify and market their skills to
• Advance in their current jobs
• Locate better jobs with their current skills or
• Obtain additional training to advance in their current career or change careers

Mentors provide encouragement, while identifying ESL, GED, computer courses and technical training opportunities. They develop career plans and work with volunteer professional recruiters, who conduct workshops on writing a resume, interviewing and developing networking opportunities.

Our collaboration with Dress For Success also allows our female clients to be perfectly dressed for job interviews.

• Financial Training - Life involves managing time and money. Most individual believe that education is the key to success. This is true, but even with an education, there are many people who lack financial literacy and therefore are "work slaves" making $50,000 or more a year.

S4L provides positive and progressive workshops that address short and long-term financial management such as free tax return preparation, home maintenance, managing credit and avoiding financial mistakes. Families learn how to budget, save money and make critical financial decisions, to optimize money and time.

What communities are active in this program?

Families often come from Habitat for Humanity neighborhoods, churches sponsoring the meeting locations, and YES Preparatory Academy via our Game of Real Life program.

Skills For Living collaborates with the following organizations:
Adult Reading Center
Alvin ISD
Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans
Center for Social & Economic Empowerment
Ft Bend ISD
Habitat for Humanity, Alvin
Habitat for Humanity, NW Harris County
Neighborhood Centers, Inc.
New Hope Housing
Pearland ISD
Pearland Neighborhood Center
Spring Branch ISD
University of Houston, Bauer College of Business
YES Prep Public Schools

How do I get involved?

Call or attend the New Volunteer Orientation, the first Monday of each month.  See the calendar of events or email Volunteer Coordinator at Cate@Skills4Living.org to let her know you are interested in volunteering.