Financial Opportunity Center

What is the Financial Opportunity Center + Housing Hub?

The Financial Opportunity Center (FOC) + Housing Hub, located at 806 E. High St. in downtown Charlottesville, is a welcoming, friendly place where lower-income Charlottesville residents can come get hands-on assistance in: 

  • Climbing the financial ladder 
  • Improving your housing situation 
  • Building a brighter future for you and your family! 

Core services available at the FOC include Employment Assistance, One-on-One Financial Coaching, Income Supports, Housing Navigation, and Eviction Prevention assistance. 

There are more than 100 FOCs across the country, working under the umbrella of LISC, a national community development organization.  FOCs provide their services in an integrated way to help clients reach their goals. FOC clients receiving combined services are 50% more likely to get a well-paying job than clients only receiving employment services. Combined services also double clients’ long-term job retention rate. 

The overarching purpose of the Charlottesville Financial Opportunity Center + Housing Hub is to dramatically improve ease of access to financial and housing stability resources for residents of our region, and to foster greater system and resource coordination. 

VERP
The Financial Opportunity Center has been proud to administer the Virginia Eviction Reduction Pilot (VERP) grant to combat and prevent evictions in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Supported by a grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), this funding enabled our in-house eviction prevention and diversion program.

The VERP Implementation Pilot was intended to demonstrate effective approaches to reducing evictions through systems-level changes that make eviction rare, brief, and humane while also providing flexible financial assistance to those at risk of an eviction. Recognizing the benefits of eviction reduction efforts, the General Assembly passed, and the Governor signed a budget during the 2020 Special Session, allocating $3.3 million to implement VERP. Virginia DHCD was directed to design and implement the pilot. A second year of funding for the pilot was awarded by the Governor and the General Assembly during the 2021 session. The Financial Opportunity Center created significant impact during the first two years of the program.

Currently, our Evection Prevention Team works directly with landlords and tenants in the region, providing support to households at risk of eviction.

FOC Orientation Sessions
Orientation sessions for the FOC will be held each Friday.

Virtual orientations will be held via Zoom on the second Thursday at 5:30 PM. Upcoming virtual session dates: 6/12, 8/14, 10/9, 12/11. Click the link below to sign up for one of our upcoming Zoom sessions:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscO2rrTMiHtcTW0Sb0_ew3wUQCF5frx5z#/registration

In-person orientation sessions in-person orientations will be held the second Friday of the month at 12:00 PM at the Financial Opportunity Center at 806 E. High Street in Charlottesville. No registration is required – please feel free to drop in! Upcoming in-person session dates: 5/9, 7/11, 9/12, 11/14.

Hours of operation: Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm 
Contact: Shymora Cooper, FOC Manager, at (434) 422-5483 or scooper@piedmonthousing.org