FIRM partner the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center(SEARAC) yesterday released the largest study of its kind to date on the financial and banking literacy and practices of Hmong, Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese Americans in California. The study found that Southeast Asian Californians are twice as likely to be “linguistically isolated”– where no family members speak fluent English– than other Californians. Additionally, Hmong Californians are four times as likely to live in poverty as non-Hispanic whites– and those from Cambodia three times more likely.
These barriers make accessing financial products very difficult for many community members– and most still rely on pooling money with family members when needing to make major purchases.
A link to the full report can be found here.