Richmond nonprofit launches online portal to expand homeownership access for underserved residents

New RNHS Learning Portal brings trauma-informed financial education to more East Bay residents affected by decades of redlining and discriminatory lending

RICHMOND, CA, UNITED STATES, June 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. (RNHS) today announced the launch of the RNHS Learning Portal, a custom-built online learning and community platform designed to help more East Bay residents overcome the psychological and systemic barriers that stand between them and homeownership. The portal was developed by Counterintuity, a Los Angeles-based marketing agency dedicated exclusively to nonprofit organizations.

The portal is the digital backbone for RNHS’s flagship program, Healing Financial Traumas: A Journey Towards Empowered Wealth, a six-week course that addresses how past experiences with financial hardship — from job loss and housing instability to the multigenerational effects of systemic racism — shape the money behaviors that keep people from building wealth and buying homes.

Richmond was among the California cities hit hardest by redlining, the now-illegal federal policy that systematically denied mortgage financing to Black and immigrant neighborhoods from the 1930s through the 1960s. RNHS was founded in 1981 specifically to address the housing inequities created by those discriminatory policies — and, four decades later, the organization says it still sees their psychological impact in the families it serves.

"We were founded to address the legacy of redlining," Nikki Beasley, executive director of RNHS, said. "Forty years later, we're still seeing its psychological toll in the families we serve, and that's exactly why this program exists."

Unlike traditional financial education programs that focus on budgeting and credit scores, the RNHS program examines how trauma affects the nervous system, how unconscious money beliefs are formed in childhood and culture, and how individual financial struggles connect to larger systems of economic injustice. It is based on the Trauma of Money™ framework, developed by Chantel Chapman and Mark Huber and used by financial counselors, therapists, and community organizations across North America.

“For anyone who has been systematically excluded from wealth-building, financial struggles aren’t just personal. They’re downstream effects of oppression,” Erica Dixon, a Financial Empowerment Coach & HUD Certified Housing Counselor at RNHS and a certified Trauma of Money™ Facilitator, said. “Acknowledging that context is part of the healing.”

The program has grown rapidly since its 2024 launch, with the second cohort filling quickly through word-of-mouth referrals. Participants describe feeling seen and heard in a financial education setting for the first time. As an example, one participant who had been stuck at the same savings level for two years is now consistently building an emergency fund and recently scheduled a home purchase consultation.

To scale the financial trauma program beyond the limits of in-person capacity, RNHS invested in the new Learning Portal. Built by Counterintuity using an integrated learning management and community platform, the portal allows participants to work through course materials at their own pace, engage in peer discussion forums, and maintain connections with fellow participants after completing the program. It also serves alumni of the RNHS Emerging Developers Program, providing a shared space for ongoing peer networking and support.

“Nikki and the team at RNHS are doing something powerful: creating a community where people can support each other’s financial wellbeing,” said Lee Wochner, CEO of Counterintuity. “We’re proud to have built the platform that helps them do that at scale.”

The portal enables RNHS to serve more residents without proportionally increasing administrative overhead, allowing the organization to extend its mission to greater numbers of families working toward homeownership in the East Bay.

“People are having conversations about money that were taboo to them just a few months ago,” Dixon said. “This is just the beginning of their healing journey.”

About Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services

Founded in 1981 by Richmond residents to address housing inequities created by redlining, Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services (RNHS) is a HUD-certified housing counseling agency serving the East Bay. The organization has served more than 15,000 families through affordable housing development, homeownership programs, and financial counseling. Since 2017, RNHS has helped over 400 first-time homebuyers achieve homeownership and was recently named Enterprise Community Partners’ 2024 Community Partner of the Year for Northern California. For more information about this important program, please contact Nikki Beasley, Executive Director, at info@eastbaynhs.org or visit www.richmondnhs.org.

About Counterintuity

Counterintuity is a full-service marketing agency dedicated to nonprofit organizations. Founded by nonprofit executives in 2007, the Los Angeles-based agency has helped hundreds of mission-driven organizations throughout California and across the United States. In addition to traditional marketing services, Counterintuity develops custom technology solutions — including websites, learning management systems, and community platforms — that help nonprofits scale their impact while maintaining the personal connections essential to their missions. Learn more at www.counterintuity.com.

Lee Wochner
Counterintuity
+1 818-848-1700
email us here

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