When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March, Kristen Ramser, a counselor with Pittsburgh’s Financial Empowerment Center, did what most people who were able to telework did: She began working from home.
It was a big adjustment. The kind of one-on-one financial counseling Pittsburgh provides low- to moderate-income residents typically involves face-to-face interaction. Ramser’s clients would normally bring in copies of bank and credit-card statements and sit down with her to establish goals around boosting savings or paying off debt. Suddenly, these meetings were taking place through video chats on WhatsApp.