Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund

Summer jobs connect (sjc)through summer jobs connect, the cfe Fund and its 41 municipal government partners have developed a national model for using the scale and infrastructure of municipal summer youth employment programs to integrate Financial Empowerment strategies and achieve greater impact. The cfe Fund is supporting municipalities in developing targeted Financial education and banking access strategies that take advantage of the paycheck opportunity, and is welcoming new cohorts of local governments to this work through a structured summer jobs connect academy opportunity.

Financial Empowerment center (fec) replicationmunicipal Financial Empowerment centers (fecs) offer professional, one-on-one Financial counseling as a free public service. The model, first piloted in new york city, is now active in 31 Cities and counties, helping over 150,000 clients reduce debt by over $225 million and increase savings by over $45 million; dozens of additional local governments are working to launch a local fec initiative. Each partner has seen incredible demand for fec services and has quickly realized the importance of this work; many have transitioned successfully from private investment into ongoing public funding sustainability. The cfe Fund launched fec academy, an expanded entry point to guide Cities and counties through each step of planning to launch the model locally. Finally, the cfe Fund is piloting new enhancements to the fec model ranging from connections to small business/entrepreneurship services to estate planning.

Bank onbank on provides central support to 100 local coalitions and liaises nationally with banking, regulatory, and nonprofit organization partners to ensure that everyone has access to safe, affordable banking. Program accomplishments include: the release of the first-ever bank on national account standards, and the accompanying movement of the market to meet the standards; the creation of an infrastructure to evaluate and validate accounts that meet the standards; the creation of a platform to facilitate and aggregate Financial institution reporting of data about bank on accounts; a range of grant support to assist local coalitions in building their capacity and expanding banking access, including through the development of replicable, large-scale programs that connect underserved populations to certified accounts; the establishment of the bank on fellowship to demonstrate what full-time coalition leadership can accomplish; and additional technical assistance efforts aimed at helping Financial institutions and municipal leaders upgrade and reinvigorate local bank on programs.

Additional cfe Fund programs include: supporting the cfe coalition, an invitation-only group of 20 Cities on the cutting edge of municipal Financial Empowerment; developing consumer Financial protection capacity and offices of Financial Empowerment within local government; and providing intensive technical assistance to help Cities and other government leaders embed Financial Empowerment strategies into programs and infrastructure, focusing on the needs of black residents.