Over the last several years, large-scale investments in one-on-one financial counseling and coaching programs have grown exponentially. Private funders, federal agencies, local municipalities across the country, and large nonprofit organizations have been demonstrating that free, one-on-one financial counseling and coaching services can be delivered at scale, through trained professionals, with measurable client outcomes. There’s a building consensus that the key to demonstrating the value of these investments, and therefore sustaining and growing them, is this movement toward the professionalization of the field.
With this in mind, the CFE Fund, with generous support from Citi Community Development, held a conference on the Professionalizing Field of Financial Counseling and Coaching in New York City. The conference convened expert stakeholders to share perspectives and build consensus on advancing the professionalization, and thus long-term sustainability, of financial counseling and coaching. The CFE Fund also released an accompanying journal, highlighting dozens of stakeholder perspectives across the four professionalization pillars.