Financial empowerment (FE) is an approach to poverty reduction that focuses on improving the financial security of people living on low income. Evidence shows that embedding FE interventions into municipal welfare, employment, housing, shelter and health services can significantly boost service...

Local governments across the United States are working to help their residents weather the health and financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cities and counties, that means deploying their Financial Empowerment Centers (FECs), which provide professional, one-on-one financial...

This overview summarizes the Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) model’s Counselor Training Standards. The Standards delineate the breadth and depth of the financial content areas, counseling and coaching skills, practice and experiential learning, and socio-economic and cultural context setting...

Building savings is a fundamental strategy for empowering individuals and families with low incomes. Even relatively small amounts of savings can serve as a buffer against inevitable financial shocks that can otherwise undermine social service efforts and successes – and short-term savings offer...

This report is a three-year evaluation of the Financial Empowerment Center initiative’s replication in 5 cities (Denver, CO; Lansing, MI; Nashville, TN; Philadelphia, PA and San Antonio, TX). Financial Empowerment Centers (FECs) offer professional, one-on-one financial counseling as a free...

This report provides information on the Financial Empowerment Center model, the people it served, the outcomes they achieved, the impact services had on nonprofit and city partners, and lessons learned for others looking to replicate or support this model. The evaluation was designed as a...

Bank On coalitions are locally-led partnerships between local public officials; city, state, and federal government agencies; financial institutions; and community organizations that work together to help improve the financial stability of unbanked and underbanked individuals and families in their...

The CFE Fund’s experience has shown that to best support Positive Youth Development, local programs should include financial empowerment strategies: access to, and education about, financial systems combined with opportunities and support to set goals and make good financial decisions. New focus...

The four basic pillars of any professional field—quality, consistency, accountability, and community – are attracting increasing focus from financial empowerment stakeholders across multiple sectors. When the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund and Citi Community Development released a call...

Across the country, municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) provide hundreds of thousands of young people, often from low-income communities, with short-term work experience and a regular paycheck. Building off this existing, widespread infrastructure and connection to young people, the...

In 2014, with funding from the Citi Foundation, the CFE Fund launched Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) to directly fund 1,850 jobs for low- and moderate-income youth and help five cities integrate financial education and access to mainstream financial products into municipal Summer Youth Employment...

Bank On coalitions are locally-led partnerships between local public officials; city, state, and federal government agencies; financial institutions; and community organizations that work together to help improve the financial stability of unbanked and underbanked individuals and families in their...