This issue, Issue 25, provides updates on the CFE Fund’s and partner cities’ financial empowerment efforts, including an announcement that the Bank On movement has certified more than 200 bank and credit union accounts, with partner financial institutions comprising 56% of the U.S. deposit marketshare. Additionally, the issue describes the launch of a new pilot, Small Business Boost, to bring FEC financial counseling to small business owners and entrepreneurs; shares updates from the Financial Navigators initiative; and details a new expansion of the CityStart initiative to incorporate a racial equity lens. Additionally, this issue features a guest column from ChexSystems President Ron Whyte, highlighting how the ChexSystems Bank On bundle works to reduce the traditional barriers of negative banking history for under- and un-banked people.
Project Category: Financial Navigators
CFE Fund Announces New $19M Commitment from Bloomberg Philanthropies
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.
The Supervitamin Quarterly Newsletter, Issue 22
This issue, Issue 22, provides updates on CFE Fund’s and partner cities’ COVID-19 response efforts.
Since the pandemic began, 31 cities and counties have launched Financial Navigators initiatives to provide phone-based financial triage and resource referrals; 35 municipal Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) partners are offering, or are working to launch, one-on-one financial counseling through FEC programs; and more than 80 Bank On coalitions are working to connect their communities to safe and affordable banking products so they can safely receive and use stimulus payments, unemployment benefits, wages, and more. This issue also features a guest column from Nick Gradisar, the Mayor of Pueblo, CO, highlighting the key role the CityStart and Financial Navigators initiatives have had in Pueblo’s emergency response.
Over 50 Cities and Counties Offering Financial Counseling or Navigation Services To Build Resident Financial Stability During COVID-19
In this August 2020 press release, the CFE Fund announced that more than 50 city and county governments across the country will expand financial counseling and financial navigation services for their local residents in need. As part of this effort, the CFE Fund is launching a new Financial Navigators initiative, which will help 31 city and county governments newly offer their residents one-on-one remote sessions to help navigate the financial impact of COVID-19 through access to local, state, and federal resources. In addition, the CFE Fund announced an expansion of its Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) initiative, which offers professional, data-driven one-on-one financial counseling as a public service, funding additional FEC counselors and pivoting its national FEC infrastructure to accommodate remote services. This work is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Citi Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and the Wells Fargo Foundation.