Funding

The Financial Empowerment Cities (FE Cities) initiative institutionalizes and catalyzes municipal financial empowerment efforts through the public launch of an Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE), managed by a dedicated FE Leader. The CFE Fund will support cohorts of local leaders through a two-year technical assistance engagement to launch and lead a newly established local OFE, both managing existing and launching new financial empowerment programs under the purview of a dedicated Office or municipal home. For examples of this work, visit the City of Tulsa’s and the City of Rochester’s OFEs.

Selected government partners will receive $160,000 in grant funding to support leadership of an Office of Financial Empowerment, as well as significant training and technical assistance for both that leadership and that new office for two years.   Local governments (cities or counties) with 50,000 or more residents are eligible to apply. Applications must be submitted through our online grant portal and are due by November 22. Click here to apply.

The CFE Fund held an informational about the FE Cities opportunity–click here to view a recording (passcode: yXB.M5MV).

If you have any questions about this opportunity, please contact Leah Adelson, Senior Associate, at [email protected].

The CFE Fund is accepting applications for the next cohort of our CityStart engagement, which helps local governments develop a municipal financial empowerment blueprint based on stakeholder and community engagement. In this equity-focused initiative, the CFE Fund is partnering with Black-majority city and county partners, as well as cities and counties with significant Black populations, to address residents’ financial empowerment needs, prioritizing wealth-building opportunities for Black residents. CityStart helps local governments develop a municipal financial empowerment blueprint based on stakeholder and community engagement; check out past CityStart blueprints from the  City of Cincinnati and the City of South Bend. Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, whose mission is to accelerate the pace of Black wealth accumulation in the U.S., is advising the CFE Fund and municipal partners on the design and execution of the CityStart program using a racial wealth equity lens.

Grantees will receive funding of $75,000, and significant technical assistance to develop and publicly launch an actionable blueprint outlining local financial empowerment strategies (e.g., financial education and counseling, asset building, access to banking, and consumer financial protection) and opportunities for broader systems investments to further equitable financial stability and address racial wealth equity. Apply now; applications are due November 22.

The CFE Fund held an informational webinar about the CityStart opportunity–click here to view a recording (passcode: &mKw3v$w). Please contact Sol Vilera Ramos, Manager, at [email protected] with any questions about this funding opportunity.

The CFE Fund has a number of funding opportunities to support banking access efforts, including the Bank On Capacity Grant:

Capacity Grant: The CFE Fund’s Bank On Capacity Grant aims to assist leadership of local Bank On coalitions in expanding banking access by providing capacity support for an existing Bank On coalition that has, or envisions, coalition leadership that is at least half time of that person’s portfolio. Grantees work one-on-one with the CFE Fund team to build out coalition activities, including increasing the number of certified accounts available locally, and designing new programmatic integrations.  The CFE Fund also convenes a grantee learning community for peer-to-peer support. The Capacity Grant is renewable for coalitions who meet grant objectives.