Community Scholar in Residence (CSRI), 2015-2016

As the Community Scholar in Residence, I will focus my efforts on a new project: Financial Literacy, Capability and Empowerment among Immigrants and Refugees in West Salt Lake City.

The emergence of this project stems largely from the work I have conducted with the Community Action Partnership of Utah (CAP Utah) (Earn It, Keep It, Save It (EIKISI) Program.

The EIKISI Program is a statewide coalition of partners from the public, private and non-profit sectors. The program is intended to strengthen the financial stability of low- and moderate-income households in the state of Utah. Focused initially on examining the way in which low- and moderateincome households utilize their income tax reimbursement, this work has moved to examining the banking, spending, and investment practices of this demographic.

This work has found that low- and moderate-income households who are engaged with traditional financial institutions are more likely to utilize their income tax reimbursement to pay down debt and pay for educational expenses. While beneficial to understanding the banking and spending practices of low- and moderate-income families, this work has not focused on immigrant and refugee households nor examined the manner in which immigrant and refugee households manage their finances and engage (or do not) with traditional and alternative financial institutions.

In continuing to work with the CAP Utah EIKISI Program, as well as developing a collaborative partnership with several community-based organizations including the UNP Hartland Partnership Center, State of Utah Department of Workforce Services Refugee Services Office, Refugee Immigrant Center Asian Association of Utah, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Catholic Community Services of Utah, Comunidades Unidas, Salt Lake County Library Services, English Skills Learning Center, and financial institutions in west Salt Lake City.

In working collaboratively with these agencies and organizations, the goals of this project will be to recognize the strengths and assets of immigrants, refugees, and financial institutions, as well as bring these entities closer together, whereby this may serve and benefit one another and the larger community.

Ultimately, this project will examine the financial knowledge, skills, and ability; accessibility to formal financial institutions; and utilization of financial products and services of immigrants and refugees.

The project will also examine the neighborhood location and financial products and services of financial institutions, as well as practices of working with immigrants and refugees.

The first two phases of the project will focus on developing and strengthening collaborative working relationships with the agencies, organizations and community residents of immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Subsequent phases will focus on partnering with several immigrants and refugees to develop the recruitment process and methodology, data collection and data analysis, and the dissemination of findings.

The final phase of the project will consist of utilizing these findings to develop, promote, and strengthen the relationship between immigrants, refugees, and financial institutions in West Salt Lake City.

Jason received his Bachelor of Social work and Master of Social Work degrees from the University of Wyoming and his Ph.D. from Arizona State University’s School of Social Work.