Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund
The CFE Fund helps mayors with strategies developed for cities … by cities.
In this November 2021 press release, the CFE Fund announced its latest partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies that will greatly expand local government-led financial stability efforts across the country over the next three years. With nearly $19 million in new support, the CFE Fund will replicate its proven Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) model – which helps low- and middle-income residents decrease debt and increase savings – under its nationwide FEC Public platform, resulting in as many as 100 cities and counties total looking to offer FEC financial counseling services. Additionally, the CFE Fund will establish a new network of 10 “Financial Empowerment Cities” that will institutionalize government efforts by supporting new financial empowerment offices and cohorts of leaders. The CFE Fund also will help to catalyze new commitments from as many as 30 local governments, partnering with Black-majority localities and Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative to create community-informed financial empowerment strategic blueprints through its CityStart initiative, and continuing the Financial Navigators emergency response initiative. Finally, support from Bloomberg Philanthropies will also enable the CFE Fund to pilot a new financial counseling integration in five cities to test FEC eviction prevention strategies in response to COVID-19 housing instability, and field a multi-city evaluation of FEC impact in three to five partner cities.