Thank you to our many municipal and funding partners for making this pandemic-era program such a bold and nimble success. Across 31 cities and counties, trained navigators helped thousands of residents identify and then access public resources targeted to address their individual needs.
This program also has informed the CFE Fund’s new Emergency Financial Empowerment program. To learn more about either program, please contact Sol Vilera Ramos, Manager.
The Financial Navigators initiative helped residents deal with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing remote assistance in navigating critical financial issues and making referrals to other social services and resources. With support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Citi Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and the Wells Fargo Foundation, the CFE Fund partnered with 31 local governments across the country, providing them with technical assistance and funding to launch a new public Financial Navigators program.
Trained Financial Navigators provided structured guidance over the phone to help people strategize around supports for disruptions to their income and other financial concerns. They helped residents triage financial issues, identify immediate action steps, and make referrals to other services. Assistance included managing expenses through prioritizing payments and when to make them, as well as maximizing income through ensuring receipt of federal payments, unemployment benefits, and other resources. In partner cities and counties across the country, helping residents navigate the financial impact of COVID-19 through the Financial Navigators initiative was a critical part of front-line emergency response efforts.
The CFE Fund’s CityStart initiative offers local governments a structured approach to identify financial empowerment goals, convene relevant stakeholders for sustainable success, develop actionable strategies, and ultimately craft a blueprint that is rooted in local insights and opportunities to consider and expand access to wealth.
This two-phase action engagement connects critical insights about the impact of financial instability on municipal governments with tangible, sustainable strategies to improve families’ financial lives. The first phase of the initiative is a learning phase, where the CFE Fund and municipal partners look to analyze the local landscape, including wealth extraction and accumulation impacting access to wealth; collect relevant data; and engage in intensive stakeholder roundtables to identify key challenges and opportunities. This also includes a resident engagement effort. Based on issues identified in the learning phase, as well as administration priorities, the CFE Fund works with local government partners on a design phase to craft a comprehensive, government-led financial empowerment blueprint.
The CityStart initiative stems from the CFE Fund’s extensive work with local government leaders, and connects critical on-the-ground insights about the impact of financial instability on families, communities, and municipal budgets with tangible, measurable, and sustainable municipal strategies to improve residents’ financial lives. CityStart cities have historically leveraged their engagement with the CFE Fund to further their commitment to this work.
If you have any questions about the CityStart initiative, contact Sol Vilera Ramos, Manager.
Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) is a national initiative led by the CFE Fund with seed support from the Citi Foundation. Grounded in the belief that banking access is foundational to financial stability, SJC helps young people connect to safe and appropriate banking accounts through their first jobs. By integrating banking access to public payment streams, particularly municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs), local governments across the country have turned seasonal jobs into opportunities for long-term financial empowerment. Over the past decade, the CFE Fund has worked with 47 local governments and their youth workforce program partners to support low-income youth ages 14 to 24 with establishing a connection to appropriate bank and credit union accounts and meaningful financial education.
The CFE Fund supports cohorts of new cities or counties interested in learning how to integrate banking access and financial education into their youth workforce programs through Summer Jobs Connect Academy. Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) Academy participants receive robust free technical assistance to learn how to integrate banking access into their programs, build partnerships with financial institutions, deliver financial education, and leverage data to improve program performance. Academy participants will join the national Summer Jobs Connect learning community of dozens of other municipal program leaders. They will also receive in-kind support to attend an in-person convening, access to our robust resource library, and more. Historically, SJC has only been available to summer youth employment programs; however, we are excited to expand eligibility to any youth program that provides a paid workforce opportunity to youth ages 14-24 and has a local government connection.
Through the CFE Fund’s leadership, our local government partners’ efforts, and the Citi Foundation’s seed support of almost $40 million, Summer Jobs Connect has provided over 16,500 young people with work experience and connected financial empowerment services. Other supportive funders include The Skillman Foundation and the PNC Foundation. Beyond a seasonal paycheck, Summer Jobs Connect positions early job experiences as entry points for lifelong success in the financial mainstream.
Please reach out to Matt Trombley, Senior Associate, at [email protected] with any questions about Summer Jobs Connect.