NORWICH – For years, Opportunities for Chenango has helped low-income individuals and families address budgeting and credit issues through its Financial Literacy and Asset Building programs. On Wednesday, the non-profit organization received a $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation of South Central New York that will help with operating costs and offset the loss of federal funds.

As part of the program, customers enter into an agreement to work with a housing counselor for a minimum of 90 days, according to OFC Executive Director Wayne Viera. Once a month, participants review their previous month’s budget with their counselor and discuss both their successes and challenges.

The first goal, said Viera, is for participants to successfully follow their personal budget for that first 90 days. If a customer chooses to enroll for a longer period of time, they will not only be asked to follow a monthly budget – in order to work on credit issues – but will have their credit report run at the time of their first meeting. At the end of a year – after following their budget – that credit report will be run again, he added.

The goal? To see credit scores increase from month to month over the course of a year. According to Viera, OFC expects to serve approximately 100 low-income clients through the program this year.

To qualify for the program, participants must earn less than 80 percent of the county’s median income, based on family size. For an individual, that’s approximately $31,000 per year, said Viera. For a family of eight, that number would jump to approximately $59,000.