Over the last few years, the demand for financial counseling services has remained high, outpacing the availability of services at the Financial Empowerment Centers and from other organizations that offer individualized counseling. With this in mind OFE embarked on a new effort in 2012: to build...

The objectives for this research were to: Quantify the unbanked marketplace in New York City; Establish baseline for critical indicators of financial behaviour and household financial stability; Inform the development and targeting of financial counseling services, asset-building programs, and...

The Citywide Financial Services Study provides key data about financial behaviour and access to financial services among New Yorkers with low and moderate incomes. The purpose of the study was to quantify the unbanked marketplace in New York City, identify critical indicators of financial behaviour...

The Immigrant Financial Services Study combined quantitative and qualitative methods to obtain a picture of demand and supply-side barriers and opportunities for financial access for immigrants in New York City. Demand-side research consisted of three initial focus groups, a three-month survey...

New York City’s Earned Sick Time Act (Paid Sick Leave Law) created the legal right to sick leave for 3.4 million private and non-profit sector workers. For one third of those workers—nearly 1.2 million—the Paid Sick Leave Law (PSL) marked the first time they had access to this vital workplace...

This Report, the second in a series about the “supervitamin effect” of improved social service outcomes when integrating financial empowerment and asset building strategies into public programs, details New York City’s efforts to provide high-quality, effective financial counseling at scale...

This report, the third in a series about the “supervitamin” effect of improved social service outcomes when integrating financial empowerment and asset building strategies into public programs, details New York City’s efforts to increase access to safe and affordable banking...

Consumer protections safeguard all consumers from predatory practices and enable honest businesses to thrive by ensuring a fair and vibrant marketplace. More than just a regulatory tool, consumer protections—for example, protections against abuse by debt collectors, deceptive advertising by used...

Financial stability affords families with low incomes a bulwark against the crises of sporadic income, unexpected expenses, and a reliance on predatory fringe services and also provides an opportunity to start actively planning for a solid financial future. Achieving a stable financial foundation...

This report, which documents how New York City introduced professional financial counseling into key City services, is the first in a series that build the case for fully integrating financial empowerment and asset building strategies into core social service delivery to achieve better outcomes,...

This brief highlights findings from a small-scale pilot that integrated Virtual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) services at two New York City Head Start programs during the 2013 tax season. The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) coordinated the...