Our Approach

We are more than subject matter experts.

Our program does more than offer credit building subject matter expertise. We use the framework of Meta-Oppression as an important lens. 

father with his daughter on his shoulders

What is Meta-Oppression?

Defined as psychological stress resulting from dealing with protracted structural racism, meta-oppression is a theory and term coined by our Board President, Dr. Jacqueline Scott, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. Meta-Oppression is characterized by feelings of profound resignation and despair. We often see it manifest in participants of color as aversion to the mainstream credit system–a system key to economic mobility. Our work helps these participants shift to feeling hopeful about future economic opportunities as they parlay the information, tools and support they receive from Working Credit into prime credit scores and begin to enact their financial goals. 

Read Dr. Scott's blog, The Dual Credit Market Dilemma: How Working Credit Interrupts Structural Racism
a young couple smiling and hugging

What our clients say about our efforts to interrupt the effects of structural racism.

“Historically we [Black people] are the people most disenfranchised by not having credit at all or having bad credit. But knowing about the details of credit early on helps us to get the clarity we need to see and move forward with many other parts of our lives.”

Read our groundbreaking study with the Urban Institute, “It’s Not For Us”: Understanding How Meta-Oppression Influences Black Americans’ Experiences with the Credit System
woman wearing white headphones and writing in a notebook

Additional resources we lean on to educate ourselves and continue the hard work of interrupting structural racism.

Books

Rothstein, Richard The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Kendi, Ibram X. How to Be An Antiracist 

DiAngelo, Robin Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm

Anderson, Carol White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide

Baradaran, Mehrsa The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap

Perry, Andre Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property In America’s Black Cities

Articles:

Price, Anne Don’t Fixate on the Racial Wealth Gap, Focus on Un-Doing Its Root Cause (Insight Center)

Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, CFPB data point: Credit visible

Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, CFPB data point: Becoming credit visible

Time Magazine, Segregation and the Racial Wealth Gap

Working Credit Blog: Black Lives Matter

Working Credit Blog: The Dual Credit Market Dilemma: Working Credit Interrupts Structural Racism

Videos:

Consumer Finance Protection Bureau: Unpacking the Black Wealth Gap – Historical Lessons of Credit Discrimination

Consumer Finance Protection Bureau: Unpacking the Black Wealth Gap, Part 2

Folded Map Project

Podcasts:

Diversifying: Does it feel like the financial system is stacked against you? For many of us, it is. Especially if you’re Black or Brown, a woman, or single. In Diversifying, we explore why the traditional rules of money management no longer apply to new generations. Hosted by Delyanne Barros, better known as Delyanne The Money Coach, Diversifying demystifies and humanizes money by examining the culture we make it in and how to make it work for you.

Hidden Brain explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world.

  • Money 2.0: Rewrite Your Money Story
  • Money 2.0: Why We Bust Our Budgets
  • Money 2.0: Emotional Currency
Read our groundbreaking study with the Urban Institute, “It’s Not For Us”: Understanding How Meta-Oppression Influences Black Americans’ Experiences with the Credit System