More than half of all employees in the United States report that they are financially stressed, and nearly one in three employees reports being distracted by personal financial issues while at work. This financial stress impacts individuals’ health, relationships, productivity, and time away...

This brief will provide a variety of insights and recommendations for creating more equitable opportunities and inclusive programs based on the first-hand experiences of organizations across the nation. Learning how organizations recognize the challenges that various communities or populations face...

This report explores the connections between low income, poverty and protected characteristics, how these can shape the experience of poverty, and whether this can result in a similar inequality in terms of when and how poverty premiums are incurred. COVID-19 has thrown light on the link between...

Fair By Design and Turn2Us (in the United Kingdom) commissioned this research to explore recent changes in the poverty premium landscape, to understand if they are having any impact on the cost of premiums, or the number of people who pay them. Importantly, we did this through the lens of the...

Research has shown that even short-term isolation can have long-term impacts to mental health. Social and community supports are essential for vulnerable persons, especially during times of severe impacts to routine and imposed social distancing. This report discusses the findings of the Rx:...

Credit is an essential ingredient for economic security and mobility. Without a high credit score and affordable, available capital, it is nearly impossible to get by financially, let alone get ahead. Our economic system, and the American Dream it is supposed to feed, is based on the belief that...

As stated in the Poverty Reduction Act, the Market Basket Measure (MBM) is now Canada’s Official Poverty Line. The Northern Market Basket Measure (MBM-N) is an adaptation of the MBM that reflects life and conditions in two of the territories – Yukon and Northwest TerritoriesNote. As with...

Given the scope and the diversity of the reports and studies that examined the impacts of the pandemic on well-being, it can be challenging to absorb and understand all the ways in which quality of life has been affected by COVID-19. The well-being literature offers an approach that may help. This...

The Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) developed the strategy Building Sustainable Communities to tackle pressing need through an expansive network of Financial Opportunity Centers (FOCs) in dozens of communities nationwide. FOCs help clients find and maintain good jobs, stick to realistic...

This paper discusses the concept of disposable income used in the MBM. Disposable income is a measure of the means available to a Canadian family to meet its basic needs and achieve a modest standard of living. The disposable income of families surveyed in the Canadian Income Survey (CIS) is...

This report examines the relationship between the earnings of Canadians in the labour market and their post-secondary education credentials.  Findings are based upon information gathered from the 2016 Census on adults between the ages of 25 to 64 with different levels of education and working in...

The Who’s Hungry Report provides quantitative and qualitative data about the experience of hunger and poverty in Toronto. To create the reports, trained volunteers conduct face-to-face interviews with over 1,400 food bank clients at nearly 40 member agencies, collecting demographic data as well...

This review looks at the activities, impact, and drivers and barriers to success of four types of community-led approaches: voluntary action, community organising, social action and community economic...

In recent years, there has been growing academic and media attention regarding income inequality—the disparity in the distribution of income across households. This report focuses on a less studied issue, how income varies within households even over relatively short periods of time....

Millions of small-dollar credit borrowers are set back by predatory lending practices. There is a critical need for high-quality products designed for both borrower success and lender profitability. This report shares an analysis of practices of 16 installment lenders that have adopted some of the...

As a greater share of modern life is encoded into data streams, Big Data tools can enhance the capabilities of a wide range of financial service companies through machine-learning algorithms that get smarter over time, building stronger predictive models as they gather customers and data points....

After more than a year of dedicated research, analysis, and outreach, CFSI has developed eight indicators to measure financial health. For each indicator, we provide benchmarks, financial data proxies, survey question alternatives, and data sources, among other things. This is the final report on...

Recover and Rebuild: Helping Canadians build financial security during the pandemic and beyond  The 2021 ABLE Financial Empowerment (FE) virtual series is a collection of online financial empowerment events designed to provide frontline FE practitioners, FE...