What is SparkPoint?
Created by United Way of the Bay Area, SparkPoint Centers are one-stop, financial-education centers that help individuals and families who are struggling to make ends meet.
SparkPoint helps clients address immediate financial crises, get them back on their feet, and build financial security. Each center brings together a full range of services at one convenient location, including job training, career development and financial coaching, as well as access to higher education and savings accounts. Every SparkPoint client gets a coach who helps create a step-by-step plan to achieve personal financial goals.
United Way’s SparkPoint network is winning both national and international attention, with poverty experts traveling from around the world to study it.
How is SparkPoint different than other one-stop models?
While the concept of a one-stop resource center is not new, United Way’s SparkPoint Centers improve on previous models by:
- “Bundling” Services – Each Center brings together the region’s most effective programs. SparkPoint clients can access multiple services which more effectively addresses the complex issues facing struggling households. We’re already seeing results: clients who used more than one service were three times more successful in achieving financial goals than clients who used only one.
- Empowering Clients – Every SparkPoint client gets a coach who helps create a step-by-step plan to achieve personal goals. The coaches serve as financial advisors, providing guidance and support. Because financial success takes time, SparkPoint works with clients for as long as they need; for many, that is two or three years.
What is United Way’s Role?
Since 1922, United Way of the Bay Area has been in the business of addressing people’s financial crises. Over the last decade, United Way has made grants and provided counsel to hundreds of top-performing financial stability programs. As a result, we have the expertise to gather the region’s most impactful partners to build SparkPoint, ensuring each Center has the right mix of skills and resources necessary to maximize client success.
Beyond creating the SparkPoint model and metrics, United Way of the Bay Area supports centers on both a regional and individual level:
- Marketing: Each SparkPoint Center receives customized support from United Way’s marketing team. Partners agree to share a common brand, developed by United Way, which conveys a positive, welcoming environment and program. United Way provides high-quality marketing templates, and we lead regional marketing efforts including the SparkPoint regional website, seasonal marketing campaigns, media relations and public service announcements.
- Technology: Beause tracking clients’ progress and outcomes is so important, United Way has dedicated staff and resources to create and maintain a database that tracks results for all Bay Area SparkPoint Centers. United Way provides access to a customized, web-based database called “Efforts to Outcomes” that allows Centers to share client data, as well as to generate reports to drive decision making about programs and services. United Way trains SparkPoint staff to use the system, create and analyze reports on a regular basis.
- Sharing best practices: United Way works at a regional level to convene stakeholder meetings, share best practices, and build the field. This includes trainings and meetings for SparkPoint partners, as well as drawing on outside resources, such as the 1,300 United Ways nationwide that work on financial self sufficiency.
Download the SparkPoint Information Kit.