Category: Press Release

The Citi Foundation and CFE Fund Expand Summer Jobs Connect to New Cities as Part of National Pathways to Progress Initiative

Posted on by Soliant Admin

The Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) initiative, generously supported by Citi Foundation, leverages the scale and infrastructure of Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) to offer banking access and other financial empowerment opportunities, helping to transform a summer job into an on-ramp to the financial mainstream.

This March 2015 press release announces the Citi Foundation and the CFE Fund’s $4.6 million investment in a second, expanded year of the Summer Jobs Connect initiative. In Year Two, the program expanded to include Washington, DC and St. Louis, MO. The announcement also marks the launch of the CFE Fund’s report Summer Jobs Connect: More Than a Job: Lessons from the First Year of Enhancing Municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs through Financial Empowerment, which details important lessons from the programs in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, and San Francisco over the 2014 program summer.  

CFE Coalition Comment Letter on the Community Reinvestment Act

Posted on by Soliant Admin

The 15-member CFE Coalition has weighed in on key federal policy issues since its founding in 2008.

In this 2014 letter, the Coalition weighs in on proposed revisions to the Interagency Questions and Answers Regarding Community Reinvestment. The Coalition recommends a number of factors that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) examination process should take into account. First, the Coalition encourages the addition of CRA-based incentives for municipal financial empowerment services, such as for financial institutions that partner with municipalities to offer Bank On appropriate accounts, support children’s savings strategies, and invest in or support integrated financial counseling and coaching services. The Coalition urges that any consideration of alternative product delivery system be balanced by the fact that many low and moderate-income customers rely on full service bank branches, and highlights that cost and range of services, information about account availability, public awareness and customer support are all critical factors. The Coalition also recommends that the Q&A provide specific examples of how community development services can be distinguished from retail banking services, with suggested examples ranging from improving account screening to targeted outreach to low and moderate-income communities and training employees on serving these communities. Finally, the Coalition strongly recommends that assessment areas be revised to include all areas where banks do business, instead of being limited to where banks have a physical presence.

CFE Fund and Capital One Announce Winners of Multi-City Hackathon to Support Financial Empowerment

Posted on by Soliant Admin

The CFE Fund and Capital One announced the winner of the Multi-City Financial Empowerment Hackathon, a national effort to create software applications (apps) focused on financial inclusion. Representing San Francisco, MEDAPulse, in partnership with the Mission Economic Development Agency, won the national competition with a tool that helps financial counselors better engage with clients by using technology to remind them of the goals that clients committed to achieving between sessions.

Through a grant from Capital One, the CFE Fund provided funding and technical assistance to Chicago, New York City and San Francisco to host regional hackathons. Combined, hackathons in these cities had over 110 participants who worked in teams to create numerous apps, including budget trackers, goal-setting applications, financial achievement badges and financial action plans.

Leaders of Business, Government, and Non-profit Sector to Gather with President Obama’s Advisory Council to Discuss Financial Inclusion Strategies

Posted on by Soliant Admin

The Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) initiative, generously supported by Citi Foundation, leverages the scale and infrastructure of Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) to offer banking access and other financial empowerment opportunities, helping to transform a summer job into an on-ramp to the financial mainstream.

This July 2014 press release announces the launch of Summer Jobs Connect in five cities at the CFE Coalition Forum in Los Angeles. At the meeting, Coalition members discussed ways that US cities could promote financial inclusion, with a focus on teens and young adults. In addition, members of the Cities and Communities Working Group of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability of Young Americans attended the Coalition meeting. The Council was formed in 2013 to advise the President on ways to provide young people with financial knowledge and skills at an early age so that they can make wise decisions concerning their future financial stability.

The CFE Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies Award Technical Assistance Grants to 7 Cities Replicating the Financial Empowerment Center Model

Posted on by Soliant Admin

Financial Empowerment Centers offer free, professional, one-on-one financial counseling to enable residents to address their financial needs and plan for their futures.

In this February 2014 press release, the CFE Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies announce a second wave of In-Kind Technical Assistance grants to seven cities: Cleveland, OH; Hartford, CT; Hawai’i County, HI; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA. Participating cities raised private funds or redirected public funds to support direct program costs. To supplement these city efforts, the CFE Fund will provide robust technical assistance and capacity building resources to each city, fueling the expansion of the model and helping the cities to replicate and customize the public counseling model to meet local needs. The technical assistance grants come in response to overwhelming demand for Financial Empowerment Centers following the success of the expansion of the Financial Empowerment Centers to five cities in March 2013.

CFE Fund Announces Opening of New Financial Empowerment Centers in 5 Cities

Posted on by Soliant Admin

Financial Empowerment Centers offer free, professional, one-on-one financial counseling to enable residents to address their financial needs and plan for their futures.

In this March 2013 press release, the CFE Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies announce the opening of five new Financial Empowerment Center programs to provide free, personalized, and professional financial counseling to residents of Denver, CO; Lansing, MI; Nashville, TN; Philadelphia, PA; and San Antonio, TX. Clients receive assistance with money management, budgeting, reducing debt, establishing and improving credit, connecting to safe and affordable banking services, building savings, and referrals to other services and organizations.  Counselors are professionally trained, and support their clients in navigating complex financial decisions. Financial counseling is integrated into public services including housing services, homeless prevention, foreclosure prevention, workforce development, asset building, financial services access, and domestic violence prevention.