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The Pittsburgh Financial Empowerment Center: Unlocking Financial Freedom to Provide a More Complete Overall Health Care Picture
As of November 2022, the Pittsburgh Financial Empowerment Center has helped 1227 clients, saved them over $2 million, and helped reduce their debt by almost $3.5 million. Counselor Alicia Donner discusses how the organization not only provides financial assistance but also helps patients cope with unexpected health care expenses.
The Pittsburgh Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) opened in March of 2019, and it currently offers financial counseling in the 4 main areas of financial empowerment: access to safe and affordable banking, building and improving credit, reducing debt, and increasing savings. Services toward home and small business ownership and general money management are also provided.
As of November 2022, the FEC has helped 1227 clients, saved them over $2 million, and helped reduce their debt by almost $3.5 million.
While in Pittsburgh recently to visit the UPMC Health Plan Neighborhood Center, we sat down with Alicia Donner, counselor, to learn more about the FEC, which is a community partner of the Neighborhood Center, and its services.
Donner notes that, “Looking at community health, and health holistically, is so important, and just from my lens, financial resilience in the health space is just being able to weather an unexpected expense or the expenses that come with a health care crisis.”
Laundromats as a New Frontier in Community Health, Medicaid Outreach
May 29th 2025Lindsey Leininger, PhD, and Allister Chang, MPA, highlight the potential of laundromats as accessible, community-based settings to support Medicaid outreach, foster trust, and connect families with essential health and social services.
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Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias Cause Surging Economic Burden for Minoritized Communities
June 5th 2025African American and Latino older adults with Alzheimer disease and related dementias and their families are likely to face disproportionately high burdens, primarily associated with unpaid caregiving, suggesting the need for policies that may reduce economic burdens for all US residents.
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