CONSUMER CREDIT COUNSELING SERVICE OF SAN FRANCISCO

Balance Financial Wellness exists to empower financial transformation. Since our founding in 1969 as the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of San Francisco, we’ve met people in their most vulnerable moments with honesty, care, and respect. What began as crisis support has grown into a national effort to make financial wellness accessible, equitable, and truly life changing.

Our mission takes root in community and grows through partnership. Working with more than 375 partners nationwide, we’re expanding access to financial guidance in places where people already live, work, learn, and seek support. We collaborate across sectors including banks, employers, healthcare, government, technology, and nonprofits because lasting change requires shared responsibility.

We also lead networks that drive system-level impact. As a HUD-Approved National Intermediary, we support 16 subgrantee housing counseling agencies across eight states, and our COO co-chairs the national HUD Intermediary Network. In California, we serve as a Housing Counseling Agency and are one of only two intermediaries trusted by CalHFA to administer grant funds that strengthen local housing counseling agencies. We also coordinate the statewide Student Loan Empowerment Network, funded by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, connecting borrowers to free counseling, case management, and legal support through a first-of-its-kind centralized referral model that we designed and manage.

Balance’s services are open and accessible to anyone. However, across all programs, our focus is on people who have historically had fewer pathways to stability and wealth. More than 60 percent of the individuals we serve are low- to moderate-income, and 63 percent identify as people of color. We support youth transitioning out of foster care, first-generation students, women, older adults, veterans, gig workers, individuals experiencing housing instability, and people re-entering their communities after incarceration. Our equity-centered approach removes barriers through culturally responsive coaching, trauma-informed practices, interpretation in more than 210 languages, digital access support, and intentionally inclusive outreach.

Innovation is core to our purpose. In 2024 we launched a proprietary coaching platform built on Salesforce, enabling our financial coaches and counselors to set goals, track progress, and build personalized action plans that strengthen outcomes and consistency. In 2025 we advanced our evolution with a transformative rebrand as Balance Financial Wellness, affirming our commitment to whole-person wellbeing and the next era of financial empowerment. Under the leadership of CEO Ronaldo Hardy, a national DEI champion, we are shaping a field where financial wellness is not a privilege but a universal possibility.

Today, Balance is both a direct service provider and a backbone organization that strengthens the entire ecosystem. We multiply access points, align shared standards, and help communities build resilience at scale. Most importantly, we meet people where they are and help them become who they want to be—financially and beyond.