THE SUPERVITAMIN QUARTERLY
|
|
Letter from the President & CEO
|
|
Dear Colleagues-
Last week, our partners at the American Banker’s Association urged their thousands of members to offer a Bank On certified product at the start of their national convention. ABA President Rob Nichols, who contributed a guest column below, advised ABA members that these no-overdraft affordable accounts were good for the public, good for financial institutions individually, and the right step for the industry as a whole. As part of this partnership announcement, Nichols announced that nearly every single one of the nation's core service providers had agreed to partner to make it easier than ever for these thousands of financial institution clients to offer Bank On-certified accounts.
Banking access is the cornerstone of financial stability – and our 90+ Bank On coalition partners across the country have seen first-hand the impact of the pandemic on banking access, working hard to help their communities access Bank On certified products to receive stimulus, unemployment, and other vital payments safely and affordably. Partnerships like that with the American Bankers Association, the FDIC, and the nation’s core banking processors significantly increase these coalitions’ ability to succeed making those critical connections.
These partnerships also continue to reflect the multi-sector DNA of this movement. We are so proud to be working alongside so many to achieve meaningful opportunities to connect or reconnect those struggling outside the mainstream, most particularly during this time of crisis.
Thank you, as always, for your partnership,
Jonathan
|
|
The CFE Fund’s FEC Public initiative, with seed support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Capital One, the JPB Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, supports local governments in working to launch professional, one-on-one Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) counseling as a free public service for residents in need.
The CFE Fund is continuing COVID-19 response efforts by providing grants and intensive technical assistance to existing FECs partners, helping the national FEC community pivot to virtual services and hire additional counselors to meet increased demand for services. Additionally, we have worked with FEC city partners to leverage federal CARES Act funds to begin integrating FEC services into existing public programs, such as rental assistance programs and eviction prevention efforts, like in Polk County, Iowa.
Finally, the FEC Public movement continues to grow, even in the midst of the pandemic! In August 2020, the City of Roanoke, VA launched its FEC, joining 20 other local governments across the country offering this critical public service. Interested in bringing FEC financial counseling to your city or county? Keep your eyes peeled – the CFE Fund will release a new FEC Requests for Proposals in November.
|
|
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CFE Fund also worked to help city and county partners without existing FEC infrastructure that had identified the importance of helping residents deal with the financial impact of the pandemic. The CFE Fund created the new Financial Navigators program, with generous emergency support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Citi Foundation, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo. Financial Navigators provide remote assistance to residents in navigating critical financial issues and making referrals to other social services and resources.
The CFE Fund selected 31 local governments to participate in the first waves of the new Financial Navigators program; 12 partners have already launched. Across the country, Navigators have held almost 1,000 phone sessions with clients; rental assistance, understanding eviction moratoriums, and resolving utility hardships are by far the most common consumer requests for assistance. The CFE Fund is working with its Financial Navigator partners to continuously update guidance as changes in eviction moratoriums, stimulus, and unemployment rates emerge. Many city and county Financial Navigator partners also have started leveraging federal CARES Act funds to support these new public programs.
To learn more about the Financial Navigators initiative, contact I-Hsing Sun, Chief Program Officer.
|
The CFE Fund’s CityStart initiative, with support from the JPMorgan Chase & Co. and others, is a structured approach to guiding local governments as they kickstart municipally-led financial empowerment strategic planning.
In September, the CFE Fund competitively selected five new CityStart partners to receive significant technical assistance, along with a planning grant, to identify and plan for local municipal financial empowerment strategic priorities. Selected government partners in this program’s most recent cohort include: Hennepin County, MN; Jackson, TN; Montgomery, AL; Pueblo, CO; and Tempe, AZ. This Fall, the CFE Fund is working with its municipal partners to coordinate virtual municipal financial empowerment bootcamps, convening key local stakeholders to identify local challenges and opportunities. Additionally, this cohort will focus on incorporating racial equity and resident engagement efforts within their CityStart efforts, in partnership with the Urban Institute.
|
|
With seed funding from JPMorgan Chase and multiple additional funders, the CFE Fund’s national Bank On initiative supports local coalition and financial institution efforts to connect consumers to safe, affordable bank and credit union accounts.
Bank On’s 90+ coalitions are continuing to adapt their efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to serving as financial security experts in their communities, coalitions have shifted to virtual work through online financial institution roundtables, programmatic banking integrations, and a heightened focus on online account opening functionality. Coalitions also supported residents through emphasizing the importance of banking access, especially given the surge of unemployment benefits and the distribution of federal Economic Impact Payments; many used the CFE Fund’s consumer-facing banking page and toolkit to highlight banking access resources. The CFE Fund also supported coalitions to connect, exchange best practices, and strategize during the biennial Bank On Leadership Training in July, a two-day virtual convening of 140 Bank On leaders from across the country.
Finally, the CFE Fund is excited to share that last week, at the American Bankers Association’s national “Unconventional Convention,” ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols urged their thousands of members to offer a product that meets the CFE Fund’s newly released 2021-2022 Bank On Account Standards. As part of this partnership announcement, the ABA partnered with nearly all of the nation’s core-service providers to make it easier than ever for thousands of banks to offer Bank On-certified accounts. This announcement dovetailed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC’s) release of their new study on unbanked populations in the US, How America Banks: Household Use of Banking and Financial Services. Thanks in part to the Bank On movement, the national unbanked rate dropped to 5.4% in 2019, from 6.5% in 2017. We are delighted with the expansion of banking access that this rate represents, but we also know that millions of people, especially people of color, still remain outside of the financial mainstream – and that COVID-19 will likely negatively impact the 2020 unbanked rate.
|
|
The CFE Fund’s Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) initiative, generously supported by seed funder the Citi Foundation, just completed its seventh summer of banking access integration programming. SJC partners across 16 implementing cities, worked to embed financial education and banking access into their municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs. In addition, the CFE Fund worked with a new cohort of 7 cities to plan for Summer Jobs Connect integrations in Summer 2021.
Although COVID-19 changed many cities’ SYEP plans, most SJC partners pivoted to virtual employment programs for youth participants, such as online work readiness and career exploration training, accompanied by financial education, social and emotional learning, and digital literacy instruction. Cities also found ways to get creative. For example, peer financial mentors and their supervisors in Washington, DC and Chicago held a series of workshops to discuss financial issues during COVID-19 and exchange best practices, marking the first time SJC youth collaborated so directly. Additionally, New York City made significant efforts to increase direct deposit enrollment; their “Summer Bridge” program allowed youth to register for direct deposit at any point during summer programming, a dramatic shift from their normal June 30th deadline. The NYC program enrolled more than 54% of youth in direct deposit this summer – the highest rate in program history. In addition, Miami required all participants to attend individual weekly trainings with financial ambassadors, which helped participants save over $78,000 in just five weeks’ time.
|
The CFE Fund also released a video which highlights how SYEPs around the country pivoted their programs in light of COVID-19, and includes participants explaining the importance of financial empowerment during COVID. CFE Fund’s annual #SummerJobsConnect social media campaign reflects youth participants’ insights and experiences related to financial empowerment and banking access. This summer, the campaign generated more responses than ever, with over 5,800 young people sharing their stories – including newly via TikTok.
Earlier this month, the CFE Fund’s annual Summer Jobs Connect Convening went fully virtual. Representatives from all 23 partner cities – including 7 new SJC planning cities – participated in workshop sessions, reflecting on Summer 2020 and discussing strategies for Summer 2021.
To learn more about Summer Jobs Connect, please contact Jonathan Barrata, Associate.
|
|
With initial funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and ongoing support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the CFE Fund’s Local Consumer Financial Protection Initiative (CFPI) assists local governments plan for and launch new consumer financial protection offices within their administrations.
The CFE Fund is working with our newest planning cohort of 5 local governments, including: Chattanooga, TN; Detroit, MI; Philadelphia, PA; Shelby County, TN; and St Paul, MN. Each are partnering to develop strategic plans, with an emphasis on anti-fraud efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. To inform their plans, grantees are engaging their communities and partners to identify key priorities, developing communication strategies for raise consumer awareness; and reviewing the array of consumer protection tools they could employ as part of their long-term strategy. Meanwhile, the first cohort of CFPI partners (Albuquerque, NM; Denver, CO; Nashville, TN; and Salt Lake City, UT) continue to focus their efforts on key issues that have emerged during the pandemic, including supporting residents dealing with potential eviction and financial scams targeting older residents.
To learn more about the Local Consumer Financial Protection Initiative, contact Kant Desai, Principal.
|
|
Guest Column: Rob Nichols
CEO & President, American Banker's Association
|
|
Last week, at the American Bankers Association’s largest annual gathering, I urged all banks to consider offering Bank On-certified accounts. With Americans facing continued economic uncertainty, the time is right for banks of all sizes to join with the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, the 43 banks who have pioneered this effort and the Bank On movement to reduce the number of unbanked in our country.
The response has been overwhelming. In just a week, the CFE Fund has seen thousands of visits to its website and dozens of banks have signed up to take the next steps toward offering an account that meets the Bank On National Account Standards. Policymakers from across the political spectrum have also reached out to learn more – because we can all agree that being banked matters. As the government rushed to distribute millions of Economic Impact Payments at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDIC, the IRS, Bank On and ABA worked to promote awareness of such accounts so American taxpayers could receive their payments quickly and securely. The FDIC is continuing its efforts through its #GetBanked campaign.
Sustainable economic opportunity requires a long-term banking relationship, but according to the FDIC’s latest data, 7.1 million Americans remain unbanked. Notably, approximately 14% of Black households and 12% of Hispanic households did not have bank accounts in 2019, compared to white households, whose unbanked rate has dropped to below 3%. While these rates have declined over time, as a nation and as an industry, we can do better.
Bank On helps solve this problem by connecting consumers to high-quality, low-fee accounts. First inspired by the FDIC’s Safe Account Pilot, the Bank On National Account Standards were created by the CFE Fund and are widely endorsed by both consumer advocates and banking industry leaders. According to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve, banks have reported that, on average, 75% of customers who choose their certified account are new to their bank. A Bank On certification is like hanging a giant welcome sign for new and returning customers – and we want unbanked Americans to see a place for themselves in their local bank.
Making it easy for every bank in the country to offer a Bank On-certified account can have an impact at enormous scale. But creating new accounts or modifying existing ones is easier said than done, especially for community banks. This is why I was so pleased to receive commitments from 20 of our nation’s core technology providers, which provide the operational backbone behind many banks, to simplify the process for their bank customers to offer accounts that meet Bank On standards. Their support is critical to this initiative.
We look forward to working with local Bank On coalitions to encourage more banks to join the Bank On movement and to foster trust with Americans who are unbanked. Please visit ABA’s inclusive banking page to learn more about our work. Together, we can help set millions of American families on the path to a stronger future.
|
|
News from the CFE Coaliton
|
|
Boston OFE Focuses on Virtual Child Savings Account (CSA) Outreach
Boston’s Office of Financial Empowerment hired a new Senior Program Manager for Boston Saves, their CSA program; in light of Boston Public Schools remote operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Boston’s OFE is focusing on virtual outreach plans and is training “Family Champions” who will receive a small stipend to help kindergarten and first grade families enroll in the program.
Lansing’s College Savings Program Highlighted by What Works Cities’ Economic Mobility Initiative
The City of Lansing’s college savings efforts are highlighted by What Works Cities; as part of WWC’s Economic Mobility initiative, Lansing integrated their financial empowerment efforts into a one-stop continuum of service delivery, and created a system to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.
Bank On Louisville Celebrates Ten Years
Bank On Louisville, launched in 2010, celebrated ten years of financial inclusion and banking access efforts.
NYC Releases New Resources on Student Debt and Neighborhood Financial Health
FECs Assist Philadelphians in Filing for Unclaimed Stimulus Checks
Philadelphia’s seven Financial Empowerment Centers are part of an effort to help roughly 64,000 eligible Philadelphia households claim their federal stimulus payments before the Nov. 21st deadline.
San Francisco Releases Report with California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) on Financial Institutions’ Response to COVID-19
In collaboration with CRC, San Francisco released a report – Pre-Existing Conditions – outlining financial institutions’ response to racism, inequality, and COVID-19 and recommending next steps for financial institutions to address COVID-19 and redress the harms of systemic racism.
St. Louis Announces Parking Ticket Assistance Program Outcomes
The St. Louis Treasurer’s Office announced results from their Parking & Towing Assistance program, which includes individualized payment plans, frozen/waived late fees, and keeps cars boot-free and out of tow lots for participants. During the amnesty program, almost 15,000 tickets totaling $369,000 were paid that otherwise likely wouldn’t have been paid. An additional 134 participants are enrolled in a payment plan, and 87% remain on-track to pay off their balances and remain fine- and boot-free.
|
|
Current Grant Opportunities
|
Stay tuned for more opportunities coming soon!
|
|
|
Financial Empowerment "In the News"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|