Producing tools to build financial empowerment

Challenge 

  • The CFPB created Your Money, Your Goals resources to empower frontline social service staff to discuss money management with clients.

  • However, the materials were so extensive that staff—already stretched thin with up to 40 clients—found them overwhelming.

Action 

  • Design & content: Helped shape Behind on Bills, a pocket-sized booklet with eight simple, photocopiable tools that could be introduced during client visits.

  • Planned and led user research with frontline staff, including interviews, role-playing, and scenario-based exercises to observe how they used financial empowerment tools in real-world contexts.

  • Created wireframes for a revised set of webpages that clearly differentiated content for multiple audiences, improving navigation and clarity across the site.

  • Led journey mapping workshops with internal teams to reimagine the user journey and build trust among stakeholders—ultimately paving the way for significant improvements to the program’s overall design and usability.

  • Team leadership: Acted as scrummaster for a distributed agile team updating the 300+ page toolkit, ensuring accessibility and 508 compliance.

Result 

  • Within 8 months, nearly 100,000 copies of Behind on Bills were ordered.

  • Over 500 staff trained to use the booklet effectively.

  • See the suite of tools

Collection of tools from "Behind on Bills," a compact, curated booklet of tools designed for frontline staff.

Screenshot from the "Behind on Bills" video showing the interaction between client and case manager that the booklet helps to facilitate. The video also shows the life-changing benefits that the booklet has had on this client's life.

Portion of an annotated journey map. This workshop helped the key stakeholders gain the trust of their colleagues in moving forward with some significant changes