In February 2023, then-Mayor Ruthanne Fuller announced that the City of Newton would be partnering with Boston-based nonprofit EMPath to implement a financial coaching and assistance program, targeting lower-income residents disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the City received $63.5 million in one-time funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Mayor Fuller awarded EMPath over $1.5 million to implement the initiative, which her Administration dubbed “Newton Thrive.”
The program was designed to be two years long, concluding in March 2026. Now that all of its participants have graduated, EMPath has issued its final report — analyzing surveys and metrics to determine how well the program met its goals.
“Mobility Mentoring”
According to the final report, EMPath worked closely with the Fuller Administration to develop criteria for eligibility and an application process. In order to be considered for the program, prospective participants had to be Newton residents, have one parent per household, have children in the household, have an income at or below 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI), be able to work, and be willing to regularly work with a trained mentor.
The program itself centered around EMPath’s trademarked “Mobility Mentoring” approach, which the final report called “grounded in brain science and designed to support participants in a complete and lasting way.” As opposed to focusing on short-term, urgent needs, the program instead zeroed in on long-term skill building and behavior change.
According to the final report, Mobility Mentoring consists of four elements: first, mentors coach participants to strengthen long-term decision-making skills. Then, participants conduct a self-assessment centered around five key questions of family stability, well-being, financial management, education and training, and employment and career development. Next, mentors support participants to meet goals oriented around the five key self-assessment questions. Finally, mentors recognize participants’ efforts to achieve their goals.
During the program, participants met one-on-one with their mentors on at least a monthly basis, but meetings happened as often as participants wanted.
In addition to providing focused coaching, the program also gave each participant $251 in monthly cash assistance. In order for participants to receive the funds, they had to be actively engaging with coaching. According to the final report, of the total $1.5 million EMPath received from the City, the organization spent $305,000 on monthly cash assistance distribution, with $298,444 of that $305,000 actually going to participants. EMPath representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding how the remaining funds from the City were allocated.
The program also provided participants with a few additional resources: a monthly newsletter that included events, job opportunities, and tips for financial growth; digital skills training classes; and monthly virtual events, which, according to the final report, provided “practical, relevant information in key areas that directly impact participants’ stability and long-term success.”
The results
At a July 28 meeting of the Newton Fair and Affordable Housing Partnership (an advisory body to City officials on issues related to housing in Newton), EMPath representative Gamuchirai Madzima highlighted some of the key takeaways from the final report.
According to the final report, at the beginning of the program, 63% of participants were experiencing at least one “significant barrier” to economic stability: 47% owed back utilities, 40% had physical or mental health challenges, 31% owed back rent, and 39% lacked adequate childcare.
But by the end of the program, Madzima said, participants had made real progress toward economic mobility.
At intake, just 53% of participants were employed, and only 47% had savings. But by the end of the program, 71% were employed, and 68% had savings. Plus, 82% of participants repaid debt during the program, she said.
Madzima also said that as part of coaching efforts, program staff taught participants how to budget, which proved effective. Budgeting is “something that may sound so simple,” she said, but “made a lot of difference.”
“It was a little difficult for us to try to get people to budget, because finances, it is very much an emotional thing,” she said. “People were behind on their utilities, so a lot of times, we got people that were like, ‘I don’t see the sense in doing a budget, because I’m never meeting my expenses,’ but we said, ‘it’s OK, even if you’re in the red. Let’s try and see what is going on, and what can we change in this time that we are working together.’ So that made a significant difference in the changes in savings, as well as debt reduction.”
Madzima also pointed to a “well-being” survey that participants took before entering and exiting the program, for which they were asked to rate the quality of their life on a 0-10 scale. At intake, on average, participants submitted a score of 5. But on exit, they submitted an average score of 7.
“A lot of times that we see that measure being 5 to 6, it means that someone just feels like their life is okay, it’s average, there are significant struggles, and also a lot of unmet goals,” she said. “But [on] that scale, when you hit a 7 or an 8, that means that life is good overall. People still recognize that there are challenges, but they feel that the positives, they outweigh the negatives.”
At the July 28 meeting, EMPath representatives also addressed some of the program’s shortcomings. While participants made notable progress, some of the goals that leaders set at the outset went unmet. For example, Madzima said, the Newton Thrive team had aimed to see 80% of participants have some savings by the end of the program. (The final percentage was 68%.)
Christina Citino, the Newton Thrive project manager and a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute (a public service and engagement arm of the University of Massachusetts), said that some of the program’s goals might have been more easily achieved if Newton Thrive had enrolled participants who were in more secure financial positions.
“In a community that’s fairly affluent, you’re starting with people who really are struggling. I think the assumption with some of the economic mobility goals and expected outcomes is that the participants would be in somewhat better shape than they actually were when they started,” she said. “And so, some of the employment goals and the savings goals and the increased income goals would have been better if we had started with a population that maybe was a little bit more stable to begin with.”
Looking back, and turning to the future
In an August 13 statement to Fig City News, Partnership Chair Marva Serotkin — who served on the Newton Thrive advisory committee, which helped design and implement the program — highlighted the program’s successes.
“The results in the final report from EMPath demonstrated that intensive mentorship support and a modest cash incentive can help low-income residents achieve economic stability and mobility,” she said. “I attended the graduation following the completion of the program and listened to the participants about their accomplishments. There was an excitement about their future.”
Now that the program is complete, its leaders are looking for ways to build upon the progress it made. At the July 28 Partnership meeting, Partnership members and Newton Thrive coordinators discussed how to apply the lessons that they learned from the program in the years to come. They also spoke about how program participants could maintain the progress that they made.
Citino said that when it comes to long-term economic mobility, education and training are important. She noted that 72% of Newton Thrive participants enrolled in an education or technical program during the program.
“I think the people in the program who are most likely to not only sustain the growth, but continue it, are those who completed certifications, education programs, got a degree, because they now have a resource that they didn’t have when the program started. And if you combine that with the confidence, and then also some of the skills about job searching, I think those folks are best positioned,” she said. “Aside from the savings and the paying down debt, they actually have something to put on a resume, which makes a big difference.”
EMPath representative Ashley Winning said that she thinks that the program’s focus on combining cash assistance with coaching work is likely to result in strong long-term results.
“A lot of the cash assistance programs we see, sometimes the benefits are only there when the cash is being given, and fades off at the end, at least, sort of as a whole — some research looks different,” she said. “But from what we’ve seen with cash, when you pair it with coaching, the benefits might sustain longer … some of the behavior, some of the training, some of the other things that came along with it, can maintain over time.”
Madzima outlined some of the program participants’ most common struggles, which she said should serve as lessons for the future. Among them were difficulties accessing reliable transportation, challenges navigating the school system, and a lack of community awareness of financial hardship.
In her August 13 statement, Setorkin noted that while the Newton Thrive program itself cannot be continued, City departments and local organizations can help carry its progress forward.
“Funds are not available to continue the program. Yet there is a vibrant human services network in Newton. Working together with the City’s Health and Human Services and Planning Departments, we can build upon the progress of Thrive,” she said.
Serotkin offered some suggestions at the July 28 meeting: Newton non-profits could work together, she said. Developers who build income-restricted affordable housing often employ resident service coordinators, she added, and those service providers could benefit from looking at strategies that Newton Thrive found successful. She also suggested working closely with the City Council and Planning staff to think about next steps.
“I understand that we’re not going to duplicate all the fine work that EMPath was able to do with this additional funding, but we need to take pieces of it and keep working at it,” she said.
Theo Younkin is a 2026 graduate of Newton South High School, former co-Editor-in-Chief of the NSHS Lion’s Roar, and a Fig City News student intern.