In this April 2026 press release, the CFE Fund announced the launch of the second Emergency Financial Empowerment cohort. Montgomery County, MD; Orange County, FL; and Sonoma County, CA will each receive $150,000 grant and technical assistance to connect financial empowerment supports to emergency preparedness and response procedures. These supports could range from expanding individual financial counseling to prepare for emergencies to helping residents navigate requirements across federal grant and loan applications after a disaster.
Category: Press Release
CFE Fund Launches Fifth National Bank On Fellowship with Support from the Wells Fargo Foundation
In this April 2026 press release, the CFE Fund announced the launch of the fifth national Bank On Fellowship cohort, made possible by a $1 million grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation. The five full-time Bank On Fellows will each serve a two-year term helping to connect consumers in their localities to safe, affordable banking accounts, demonstrating the power of dedicated coalition leadership.
Read the full press release here. Visit www.joinbankon.org to learn more about the Bank On movement.
Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund Launches Free Legacy Planning Supports to Increase Asset Protection and Intergenerational Wealth
In this October 2025 press release, the CFE Fund announced the launch of free legacy planning services as a core component of the national Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) model. FECs across the country will now help clients with legacy planning and taking steps to protect their assets. This new service is an addition to the FEC model, which also supports clients in money management, budgeting, reducing debt, establishing and improving credit, connecting to safe and affordable banking services, and building savings through free, one-on-one professional counseling as a public service.
Read the full press release here. Visit www.fecpublic.org to learn more about the FEC model.
Six Cities to Develop Local Wealth Building Strategies
In this June 2025 press release, the CFE Fund announced that six new cities have been chosen to join the next CityStart cohort. The CityStart initiative helps local leaders develop and implement proven strategies to help local families and communities become more financially stable.
The CFE Fund will partner with the cities of Kansas City, MO; Memphis, TN; Milwaukee County, WI; Savannah, GA; Springfield, MA; and St. Petersburg, FL. Through the CityStart initiative, each city will receive a $100,000 grant to help craft innovative, actionable blueprints tailored to their communities that foster financial stability across generations. The blueprints will align with and serve to support each local Administration’s priorities and partnership opportunities.
Seven Cities Enhance Small Business Services by Offering Financial Counseling for Entrepreneurs
In this March 2025 press release, the CFE Fund accounced the selection of seven local governments to offer small business owners and entrepreneurs one-on-one Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) financial counseling through the CFE’s Small Business Boost (SBB) initiative. Selected partners (which include Akron, OH; Aurora, IL; Columbus, OH; Louisville, KY; Polk County, IA; Rochester, NY; and Sacramento, CA) will connect their Financial Empowerment Center initiatives, which offer professional, one-on-one financial counseling as a free public service, to local business support services.
CFE Fund and Wells Fargo Foundation Expand Bank On Fellowship
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
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.
The Citi Foundation and CFE Fund Launch Ninth Year of Summer Jobs Connect
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.
CFE Fund Announces the Launch of Small Business Boost Initiative
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 More Than 100 Bank On Certified Accounts
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.