Stella Brumley

Sound Outreach

Founded in 1996, Sound Outreach brings a unique approach to building financial resiliency and intergenerational wealth. For 20+ years, Sound Outreach served clients throughout Pierce County, providing access to health, housing, and social services that helped our clients move from insecurity to stability. We are proud of our work, but now we have taken the next step to lifting our clients toward prosperity.   Since 2015, Sound Outreach has launched programming designed to deliver financial empowerment services to economically vulnerable households. Our new model, the "Sound Outreach Triangle," combines intensive one-on-one financial counseling, a loan guarantee fund, and a trusted community lending institution to both increase income and provide more access to wealth-building financial products such as non-predatory auto refinancing and short-term loans. Our model blends evidence-based, tested ideas such as Grameen-style microfinance and data-driven program strategies to deliver services that have not existed before in the nonprofit space.   We further complement our financial services with employment coaching to create an integrated services approach so our clients can increase their income, save the money they earn, and access more opportunity to build wealth. As organizational targets, we established three main pillars that we hope our clients can reach: a 700 credit score, $26/hr household wage (for a family of 4), and three months of savings. We believe these main goals will help our clients build healthier financial lives and take important steps not just to avoid the cycle of poverty but to build intergenerational wealth. More than ever, we believe it is vital that we provide the skills and resources for people to help themselves in their journeys from stability to prosperity.