Breaking the Stigma: Understanding and Overcoming Financial Insecurity

In San Diego, financial insecurity in the Jewish community is very real yet often hidden. Many individuals and families struggle to make ends meet and find themselves facing complex and harrowing challenges, including living in a car or on the street, dealing with mental health issues, being unable to find a job, and outliving financial resources without having family able or willing to help.

Unfortunately, the shame, loss of personal dignity, and feeling ostracized that often accompany lack of financial resources can lead to a self-imposed and community perceived stigma that prevents individuals from seeking the help they need. Destigmatizing financial insecurity is crucial to ensuring that everyone in the Jewish community has access to the resources and support they require to thrive.

Based on interviews and research, it is clear that there are multiple reasons, circumstances and events why people end up being financially constrained or living in poverty, and multiple ways they experience and deal with poverty. This means that providing assistance isn’t as simple as giving cash. Very often, those experiencing financial insecurity become depressed, anxious, or worse and have complex individualized needs that must be addressed from multiple angles and access to various resources.

A multi-faceted approach to reducing poverty in our community and improving individual lives is necessary.

• Increased awareness of available resources and making these resources easier to navigate and access is essential. Providing information and support to evaluate alternative resources to meet specific needs and establishing communal standards of care and setting priorities for the use of resources is necessary.
• Coordinating services such as professional case management, mental health and counseling services, dental and medical services, financial aid combined with financial literacy, food assistance, employment and job coaching, housing, transportation, auto repair, advocacy, and other emotional and social support services, tailored to each individual provides a pathway to self- sufficiency.
• Destigmatizing financial insecurity as a community is a critical step in encouraging those in need to seek assistance early and not wait until situations become so dire that climbing out of the poverty cycle seems impossible. We need to recognize that financial insecurity is not necessarily a personal failing, but often circumstantial resulting in a systemic issue that can affect any of us across all walks of life. We can start by shifting our language and framing the issue as one of situational economic inequality, rather than personal failure.
• Creating a culture of empathy and understanding within our communities by encouraging open dialogue about financial insecurity will destigmatize the experience of living in a state of diminished financial resources. This may involve hosting community events or workshops to educate individuals about poverty and its impact on individuals and families. It is also essential to create safe spaces for individuals to share their experiences and connect with others who may be going through similar struggles.

Destigmatizing financial insecurity is critical to addressing the issue of poverty in the San Diego Jewish community. By recognizing the complex nature of poverty and increasing access to resources and support, we can work towards creating a more equitable and compassionate society. Kindness Initiative thanks you for helping us in our mission to alleviate the financial struggles so many of our community members face daily.