Category: Press Release

Five U.S. Cities Selected to Create Local Wealth Building Strategies Addressing Racial Wealth Equity

Posted on by Katie Plat

In this April 2024 press release, the CFE Fund announced that a third cohort of five cities have been selected to join the CityStart initiative. The initiative helps local leaders develop and implement proven strategies to support local families and communities in building financial stability, with a specialized focus on racial wealth equity. Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, whose mission is to accelerate the pace of Black wealth accumulation in the U.S., is partnering with the CFE Fund and selected municipal partners to design and execute this latest iteration of the CityStart initiative.

The CFE Fund will partner with local government leaders in Buffalo, NY; Chicago, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Little Rock, AR; and Philadelphia, PA to help craft innovative, actionable blueprints tailored to their communities that foster financial stability across generations, especially for Black residents. Each of the five cities will also receive a $75,000 planning grant to help address pressing issues in their localities related to rising gentrification, disinvestment in key historically Black neighborhoods, and the racial wealth divide.

CFE Fund and Wells Fargo Foundation Expand Bank On Fellowship

Posted on by Katie Plat

In this November 2023 press release, the CFE Fund announced the fourth cohort of Bank On Fellows, with funding from the Wells Fargo Foundation. The Wells Fargo Foundation’s investment will support six full-time Bank On Fellows for two years to help connect the more than 24 million people living outside of the U.S. financial system with safe, low-cost banking accounts.

This fourth cohort of Bank On Fellows includes: Bank On Arizona; Bank On CLE; Bank On Inland
SoCal; Kentucky Bank On Network; Bank On New Mexico; and Bank On Northeast Louisiana. They will
join a community of 100 local Bank On coalitions across the country, led by or working closely with local
government to expand access to financial products through payment and program opportunities
including unemployment insurance, workforce development programs, and more. This cohort includes
three statewide coalition leaders who will work to expand banking access across their entire states.

Summer Jobs Connect to Provide Financial Education, Banking Access to Young People in 25 Cities

Posted on by Katie Plat

In this July 2023 press release, the CFE Fund announced the expansion of Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) through Summer Jobs Connect Academy, a new entry point for connecting banking access and financial education to Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs).

Citi Foundation, the program’s seed funder, provided an additional $800,000 in support of the Summer Jobs Connect initiative’s tenth year; additionally, the PNC Foundation is supporting the expansion of the Summer Jobs Connect initiative in Albuquerque, NM and Pittsburgh, PA and The Skillman Foundation is supporting this work in Detroit, MI for a fifth year.

 

 

Eight Cities to Build Financial Empowerment Efforts with Focus on Racial Wealth Equity

Posted on by Katie Plat

In this April 2023 press release, the CFE Fund announced that a second cohort of eight cities and counties have been chosen to join the CityStart initiative, with a specialized focus on racial wealth equity. The CityStart initiative helps local leaders develop and implement proven strategies to help local families and communities become more financially stable. 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 latest iteration of the CityStart program with a specific lens on racial wealth equity.

The CFE Fund will partner with local government leaders in Baltimore, MD; Cleveland, OH; Monroe, LA; Newark, NJ; Norfolk, VA; Rocky Mount, NC; Sacramento, CA; and Tallahassee/Leon County, FL to help them address the financial empowerment needs of residents and the opportunities to meet those needs, prioritizing the financial stability needs of Black residents. Each of the eight cities selected will also receive a $75,000 planning grant, drawn from a previous $19 million investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies. In 2022, the CFE Fund worked with an initial cohort of Cincinnati, OH; Mobile, AL; and South Bend, IN; these cities are in the process of drafting their CityStart financial empowerment blueprints.

The Citi Foundation and CFE Fund Launch Ninth Year of Summer Jobs Connect

Posted on by Katie Plat

This press release announces an additional $3.5 million in support from the Citi Foundation to provide more than 145,000 low-income youth with summer jobs and access to financial education as part of Summer Jobs Connect in 2022; the Summer Jobs Connect initiative is also supported by The Skillman Foundation and the PNC Foundation. Since launching in 2014, the Citi Foundation has invested over $40 million in this initiative, which has provided 16,500 young people with summer jobs and over 800,000 low-income youth with access to financial education and safe and affordable financial services. 25 Summer Jobs Connect city partners have built these financial empowerment strategies into the infrastructure of their Summer Youth Employment Programs. The CFE Fund also launched a national social media campaign, highlighting youth and partner voices on the impact of Summer Jobs Connect, and a new SJC website.

Three Cities to Kickstart Financial Empowerment, Racial Wealth Equity Efforts Through CityStart

Posted on by Katie Plat

In this May 2022 press release, the CFE Fund announced that three new cities have been chosen to join the next CityStart cohort, with a new focus on racial wealth equity. The CityStart initiative helps local leaders develop and implement proven strategies to help local families and communities become more financially stable. Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, whose mission is to accelerate the pace of Black wealth accumulation in the U.S., will advise the CFE Fund on the design and execution of the latest iteration of the CityStart program with a specific lens on racial wealth equity.

The CFE Fund will partner with the cities of Cincinnati, OH; Mobile, AL; and South Bend, IN to help them address the financial empowerment needs of residents and the opportunities to meet those needs, prioritizing the financial stability needs of Black residents. Each of the three cities selected will also receive a $75,000 planning grant, drawn from a previous $19 million investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

CFE Fund Announces the Launch of Small Business Boost Initiative

Posted on by Katie Plat

In this March 2022 press release, the CFE Fund announced the selection of five local governments to offer small business owners and entrepreneurs one-on-one Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) financial counseling. Akron, OH; Lansing, MI; Pittsburgh, PA; Polk County, IA; and Rochester, NY will connect their Financial Empowerment Center initiatives, which offer professional financial counseling as a free public service, to local business support services. This new initiative called Small Business Boost, supported generously by Principal® Foundation, will help local entrepreneurs and small business owners improve their personal finances, better positioning them to access capital and achieve their business goals.

CFE Fund Announces New $19M Commitment from Bloomberg Philanthropies

Posted on by Katie Plat

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.

CFE Fund Announces More Than 100 Bank On Certified Accounts

Posted on by Katie Plat

In this press release, the CFE Fund announced that there are now more than 100 bank and credit union accounts nationally certified as meeting the Bank On National Account Standards. Banks and credit unions offering certified accounts comprise over 50% of the U.S. deposit market share, and 40% of all US bank branches offer a certified account; nearly two million Bank On certified accounts were opened in 2019. With the certification of BMO Harris’ Smart Money™ Account, BOM Bank’s EZ Checking account, Rio Grande Credit Union’s Fresh Start Checking, US Eagle FCU’s Flex Checking account, and Wintrust Community Banks’ Money Smart Checking account, there are now 108 accounts certified as meeting Bank On National Account Standards. These accounts can expand access to safe and appropriate transactional accounts to the almost 36 million people outside of the mainstream financial system, and can be used to receive and manage the federal Child Tax Credit and other emergency payments.

To learn more about Bank On, visit www.cfefund.org/bankon.

CFE Fund and Wells Fargo Announce Third Cohort of Bank On Fellowship

Posted on by Katie Plat

This press release announced a $1 million grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation to increase the size of the Bank On Fellowship Program, which funds a full-time Bank On coalition leader for two years to focus solely on improving banking access for residents. The CFE Fund, with support from the Wells Fargo Foundation, welcomes six Bank On coalitions (Bank On Florida; Bank On Martinsville-Henry; Bank On Pierce County; Bank On Pueblo County; Bank On Rochester; and Bank On Tulsa) to the third cohort of the Bank On Fellowship. The Bank On Fellowship program is the first national initiative of its kind focused on building a multi-city network of Bank On program coordinators, equipping them with the training, tools, and resources to make significant advancements in local banking access efforts and at the same time generating best practices for other coalitions around the country.

To learn more about the Bank On Fellowship program, visit www.cfefund.org/bankon