The CFE Fund sought applications from mayors interested in implementing the evidence-based Financial Empowerment Center model that was developed in New York City and is now being replicated in other cities through the CFE Fund. Selected cities and their partners received robust technical assistance and capacity building resources valued from $75,000 to $100,000 at no cost. Selected cities did not receive direct grant funding from the CFE Fund, but rather, needed to identify other public or private funding sources to cover program operations.
Author: Soliant Admin
Supervitamin Quarterly, Issue 6
This issue, Issue 6, announces the city recipients of In-Kind Technical Assistance grants to launch and replicate the Financial Empowerment Center initiative; provides updates on the four new pilot programs supported by the Bank On Innovation Fund; highlights the expansion of Summer Jobs Connect and the release of a report highlighting key lessons learned from the initiative’s first year; includes a call for essays on the professionalizing field of financial counseling and coaching; and features a Federal Reserve guest columnist on their new Community Credit initiative.
The Professionalizing Field of Financial Counseling and Coaching – A Call for Essays
The CFE Fund issued a call for essay abstracts related to the importance of a professional approach to the field of low income financial counseling and coaching in an attempt to document stakeholders’ current thinking, their priorities, and their progress towards professionalizing this field. Submissions were included in a journal published in conjunction with a national conference on professionalizing the field held in New York City in 2016.
Next Generation Municipal Financial Empowerment Award Given to Five U.S. Mayors: Award Recognizes, Supports Emerging Municipal Financial Empowerment Leaders
The CFE Fund’s Next Generation Municipal Financial Empowerment Award grows the municipal financial empowerment field by cultivating and supporting innovative ideas from new mayoral administrations. This May 2015 press release announces the five city leaders chosen through a competitive RFP process to receive this award: Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, New Haven Mayor Toni N. Harp, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, San José Mayor Sam Liccardo, and Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler.
The award, generously sponsored by Capital One, includes both a planning grant and dedicated technical consulting from the CFE Fund. Together, awardee mayors, their teams, and the CFE Fund will develop innovative local government strategies to address poverty through programs such as financial counseling, access to safe and appropriate banking products, asset-building opportunities, and consumer financial protections.
Are Government Efforts to Help Poor People Manage Money Working?
This Governing article looks at the impact of the Financial Empowerment Center initiative, and its unique connection to local government and focus on outcomes.
CFE Coalition Comment Letter on the FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households
The 15-member CFE Coalition has weighed in on key federal policy issues since its founding in 2008.
In this 2015 letter, the Coalition affirms that the information collected through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC’s) National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households is useful and necessary, especially to inform Bank On programming and aligned financial products. The Coalition highlights specific questions from the Survey that have proved especially useful for member cities’ work, and urges the FDIC to keep as many questions as possible in the Survey. Finally, the Coalition asks for the ability to create custom tables from the data; encourages the FDIC to offer training for municipalities and others on how to use the tool; and urges caution as the FDIC explores moving towards online survey responses, given some un/underbanked and low-income consumers’ reluctance to submit personal information via online platforms.
The Citi Foundation and CFE Fund Expand Summer Jobs Connect to New Cities as Part of National Pathways to Progress Initiative
The Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) initiative, generously supported by Citi Foundation, leverages the scale and infrastructure of Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) to offer banking access and other financial empowerment opportunities, helping to transform a summer job into an on-ramp to the financial mainstream.
This March 2015 press release announces the Citi Foundation and the CFE Fund’s $4.6 million investment in a second, expanded year of the Summer Jobs Connect initiative. In Year Two, the program expanded to include Washington, DC and St. Louis, MO. The announcement also marks the launch of the CFE Fund’s report Summer Jobs Connect: More Than a Job: Lessons from the First Year of Enhancing Municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs through Financial Empowerment, which details important lessons from the programs in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, and San Francisco over the 2014 program summer.
The Five Key Financial Empowerment Touchpoints for Summer Youth Employment Program Integration
The Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) initiative, generously supported by Citi Foundation, leverages the scale and infrastructure of Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) to offer banking access and other financial empowerment opportunities, helping to transform a summer job into an on-ramp to the financial mainstream.
This infographic illustrates the key programmatic touchpoints—application, enrollment, orientation, payroll, and ongoing training—that SJC partners used to integrate financial empowerment strategies into their SYEPs.
More than a Job: Lessons from the First Year of Enhancing Municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs Through Financial Empowerment
The Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) initiative, generously supported by Citi Foundation, leverages the scale and infrastructure of Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) to offer banking access and other financial empowerment opportunities, helping to transform a summer job into an on-ramp to the financial mainstream.
This report details lessons learned from initial steps to integrate financial empowerment strategies into Summer Youth Employment Programs. Through developing and building new partnerships, taking advantage of important touchpoints throughout the program, and setting goals informed by youth capacities, SJC cities are beginning to build a blueprint for this new national SYEP model.
Supervitamin Quarterly, Issue 5
This issue, Issue 5, recaps the Bank On 2.0 National Conference and announces the Bank On 2.0 Innovation Fund; highlights the Next Generation Municipal Financial Empowerment Award grant opportunity for new mayors looking to establish financial empowerment initiatives; reviews Financial Empowerment Center initiative progress; and includes a third In-Kind Technical Assistance grant opportunity for cities interested in replicating the Financial Empowerment Center model.