From Money Anxiety to a Path to Homeownership

There’s a particular kind of anxiety that sets in a few months after college graduation. The excitement of finishing school fades, the real world kicks in, and suddenly you’re staring down a student loan repayment schedule you weren’t really prepared for. You’ve got a paycheck coming in, which is great. But you don’t have a system. You don’t really know where the money goes. And every time you sit down to think about it, you find a reason to think about something else instead.

That was Yoyo. The child of Ethiopian immigrants, she had just landed her first full-time job and was doing her best to navigate early adulthood with no real roadmap for money. The anxiety wasn’t dramatic. It was just always there, a low hum underneath everything.

Then she walked into a Tzedek DC informational session on credit, and something shifted.

She didn’t overthink it

Tzedek DC provides legal help and financial education for people carrying debt, and they had put together a free informational session on credit. Yoyo showed up. She heard what they offered—free one-on-one financial counseling with a real person, no fees, no catch—and she signed up.

She was paired with Melissa, her financial counselor, and from the start, it was less like a class and more like someone finally sitting down with her to actually figure things out together.

From anxious to in control

Once Yoyo had a system she trusted, the anxiety started to loosen its grip. She began saving with purpose instead of just hoping there would be something left at the end of the month. She started making progress on her student loan.

The idea of someday owning a home, something that had felt impossibly far off, began to feel like an actual destination rather than a daydream. Because of Tzedek DC, the American Dream no longer feels distant.

She couldn’t keep it to herself

Here’s what happens when you go from financially anxious to financially confident: you start wanting to share it. Yoyo sat down with a coworker and walked her through the case for a high-yield savings account. That coworker now has one.

At home, Yoyo started working with her mother to build new systems for tracking and managing her money. Together they figured out what was working, what wasn’t, and what would make the whole thing feel less overwhelming. Her mom now has a structure that actually fits her life.

Tzedek DC is an ImpactFool Nonprofit, receiving three years of funding and operational support from the Fool Community Foundation.