What is Deep Listening?

As part of a series of blogs about MAF’s community-centered approach, MAF staff are talking about and sharing their insights on deep listening. But, what is it? Our co-founder and COO, Daniela, describes it as “truly listening with empathy—being fully present and open, without judgment. It’s about making space for people to share their experiences, especially those whose voices often go unheard.”

Listening is a meaningful way to connect with our community. When we actively listen, clients feel seen and heard. Deep listening is woven into our organizational fabric—many of our staff share backgrounds similar to the low-income and immigrant communities we serve, making this practice even more personal and impactful.

Building Deep Listening into Our Work

But deep listening isn’t just a philosophy—it’s an intentional practice. Daniela explains, “We prioritize deep listening by dedicating resources, embedding it into our culture, and ensuring our team values it as a critical skill. When we listen with care, we can create programs that genuinely reflect the needs of our community.”

This commitment ensures that we meet people where they are, build on their strengths, and respect their experiences. Since our founding in 2007, deep listening has been a core value, allowing us to create solutions that truly work for our community.

Deep Listening in Action: The Origins of Lending Circles

When MAF started in San Fransisco’s Mission District, deep listening shaped the development of our signature social lending program, Lending Circles. We facilitated community conversations, canvassed local businesses, and conducted surveys. A lot of them.

Our community shared how they had limited access to financial products that fit their needs. Many in our mostly low-income and immigrant community didn’t participate in the financial mainstream due to the high fees and minimum balances of traditional products. At the time, 51 percent of recent immigrants did not have an active checking account. One in four used a check cashing service or supermarket to cash a check instead of a mainstream bank.

Recent surveys show similar barriers persist in low-income and immigrant communities. However, MAF’s innovative programs have demonstrated that tailored, high-quality financial services yield stronger results. By centering our community’s priorities, we create solutions that work—together.

Deep Listening Creates Meaningful Change

Deep listening is a way to build better solutions to support the ever-changing context of clients’ lives. At MAF, we recognize clients as the experts in their financial lives. We listen, learn, and act—transforming what we hear into real, impactful change. 

This process takes time. For example, MAF staff, Verónica, worked with a client, “Jessica” who was ready to start a plan for savings after two years with MAF. When Jessica started her first program at MAF in 2021, it was in the wake of the pandemic. She had a checking account but used it mainly for receiving money from her husband to pay for basic household expenses.  

Still, Jessica made progress along her financial journey by working with MAF staff to open a savings account. She wanted to use it for important future purchases for her family, like buying a new pair of sneakers for her child.

After completing another program at MAF, Jessica transformed her credit standing. She went from having no credit score when she started at MAF to becoming credit visible with a prime credit score of 660. She also received a $300 matched payment upon successfully repaying her MAF zero-interest loan. 

After taking financial education courses and building a credit history, Jessica started to think differently about her future. She shared with MAF staff that she wanted to join another credit building program. At the start of the next Lending Circle formation, her husband was there watching the children to support Jessica’s new dream: saving enough money so their family could buy a home.

Through our loan programs, MAF helps clients become visible in their financial lives by reporting payments to credit bureaus. We also offer comprehensive financial education on saving, credit, and financial planning. 

Based on feedback from clients like Jessica, MAF now offers an adapted program tailored to meet the needs of low-income families just starting to build credit. To help clients take their first step toward credit building successfully, it offers lower repayment terms and a matched payment to the client as an incentive for program completion. 

Every financial journey is unique. That’s why all our financial services focus on building clients’ self-advocacy and financial confidence so they can make informed decisions and set their own financial goals. Clients, like Jessica, participate in multiple programs at MAF because of the deep trust and connection we cultivate by listening, learning, and co-creating solutions with them as they make progress along their financial journey.

A Community-Centered Approach That Endures

For nearly two decades, MAF’s commitment to deep listening has driven the way we design financial services. Our programs remain timely, relevant, and culturally responsive because they are shaped by the very people they serve.

Daniela puts it best: “The beauty of humanity lies in our diversity—our journeys are unique, our challenges are different, and our aspirations take many forms. Deep listening helps us honor those differences and support people in achieving their own vision of financial success.”

Deep listening is a continuous practice, and it’s an ongoing commitment. Every financial journey is shaped by the challenges and opportunities that unfold in each person’s life over time. By listening, offering a flexible suite of services, and remaining responsive to our community, MAF helps each client make progress toward their financial goals—however and whenever our support is needed and wanted.