Youth Banking Connect (YBC) is a national initiative led by the CFE Fund. Grounded in the belief that banking access is foundational to financial stability, YBC helps young people connect to safe and appropriate banking accounts through workforce opportunities. By integrating banking access into public payment streams like municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) and other youth workforce programs, local governments across the country have turned jobs for young people into opportunities for long-term financial empowerment. Over the past decade, the CFE Fund has worked with more than 50 local governments and their youth workforce program partners to support youth ages 14 to 24, many of whom have low incomes, with establishing a connection to appropriate bank and credit union accounts and meaningful financial education.
The CFE Fund supports cohorts of new local governments and youth workforce programs interested in learning how to integrate banking access and financial education into their programs through Youth Banking Connect Academy. YBC Academy participants receive robust free technical assistance to learn how to connect their enrolled youth to banking access and direct deposit for program payments and incentives, build partnerships with financial institutions, deliver financial education, and leverage data to improve program performance. Academy participants will join the national Youth Banking Connect learning community of dozens of other municipal and youth workforce program leaders who are similarly enhancing their youth programs with financial education and banking access They will also receive in-kind support to attend an in-person convening in New York City access to our robust resource library, and more. YBC Academy is open 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 and our local government partners’ efforts, Youth Banking Connect has provided over 16,500 young people with work experience and connected financial empowerment services. Supportive funders include the Citi Foundation, the KeyBank Foundation, the PNC Foundation, and the Skillman Foundation. Beyond a paycheck, Youth Banking 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 Youth Banking Connect.