Letter From The President and CEO
As we all know, a meeting may be many things, but it is not an accomplishment. That said, lately I have been struck repeatedly by the increasing sophistication of public discourse around key financial empowerment issues, and the promise for meaningful change that this discourse holds.
I've had the privilege of moderating or serving as a panelist at several screenings and panel discussions of the Davis Guggenheim documentary film Spent: Looking for Change. The film, sponsored by American Express, has been viewed more than 20 million times, and as evidenced by panels in which I've participated at Lincoln Center, the Department of Treasury, and The New School in just the last few weeks alone, it is succeeding as a game-changer in exploring, humanizing, democratizing, and elevating an issue that nearly 70 million people outside the financial mainstream in our country face. (If you have not seen the 40-minute film yet, I encourage you to view it here.) For anyone who watches Spent, it is virtually impossible to write off the challenges of being outside the financial mainstream as merely a matter of "financial education;" or to hold to the pretense that payday lending is somehow responsibly providing a needed service to underserved populations. Panel and audience remarks following Spent screenings, including even the most knowledgeable and committed of federal regulators, may be the most sophisticated I've heard on the subject in a decade.
And speaking of increasing nuance on the topic, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) hosted a "brass tacks" gathering on October 8th to analyze and discuss bank account screening Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs), like ChexSystems, that most financial institutions use when vetting potential customers. To better understand these CRAs and how they impact banking access, the CFE Fund commissioned an exploratory brief from the National Consumer Law Center, available here, with full findings in a white paper coming and publicly available soon. This once-almost-secret screening system is perhaps the single biggest impediment to banking access efforts, such as those pioneered in so many local government initiatives across the country. It is thrilling to finally see this issue getting attention, front and center, thanks to forums like this one at the CFPB. Promisingly, even financial institution partners at the conference agreed that the system wasn't working as intended and needed voluntary or even regulatory reform!
All of this encourages us greatly while putting finishing touches on the CFE Fund's November 6 Bank On 2.0 Conference at Washington D.C.'s Newseum. With guidance from our newly appointed National Bank On 2.0 Advisory Board, major addresses by both the Honorable Martin Gruenberg, Chairman of the FDIC and the Honorable Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and an agenda that looks at the real challenges and opportunities of local Bank On initiatives envisioned with national platform support, how could we not be excited about a gathering of this magnitude? (There are more details on the event below, and I hope you will register and join us.)
As always, please don't hesitate to email us with your ideas and questions at [email protected].
Thanks,
Jonathan Mintz
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UPDATE: BANK ON 2.0 CONFERENCE
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Since 2005, local Bank On programs have successfully helped to open more than half a million bank accounts for residents in almost 100 cities. The hard work of local organizations on the ground is the key to getting new people into the financial mainstream. However, the sheer size and scope of the needs of the unbanked requires additional solutions. To effectively reach the entire unbanked population, we must come together to discuss ways to scale our successes to reach even more people.
The CFE Fund's Bank On 2.0 Initiative is leading the charge in bringing together community leaders from across the country to develop solutions to this widespread systemic issue. We are looking forward to welcoming local Bank On program administrators, regulators, banking partners, and others interested in financial inclusion to our upcoming conference for a day of learning and planning for the next phase of Bank On.
Join us on November 6 in Washington D.C. for our Bank On 2.0 conference: Building a National Platform for Local Banking Access Programs
Thursday, November 6, 2014
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Knight Conference Center at The Newseum
Click here for the full program guide and register here.
Many thanks to our generous conference supporters, including JPMorgan Chase, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, MetLife Foundation, and VISA.
You can also follow the conversation on Twitter @CFEfund or using #bankon2pt0.
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Seeking Proposals: Connecting Rural Populations to Financial Products and Services Grant
The CFE Fund is seeking proposals for replicable programs to connect rural populations and other hard-to-reach geographies to mainstream, safe, and affordable financial products and services that enable households to preserve their earnings and build assets. Applicants must be nonprofit organizations or state or local government agencies. Priority for funding will be given to existing Bank On programs/coalitions seeking to increase the efficacy of their work through testing new strategies to connect unbanked and underbanked populations to safe, affordable financial services.
All RFPs must be submitted electronically through the CFE Fund online submission system by November 14, 2014. For questions, please contact Suzanne Reisman [email protected].
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UPDATE: SUMMER JOBS CONNECT
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This summer, the CFE Fund and Citi Foundation launched an ambitious initiative, Summer Jobs Connect, which supports young adults seeking summer employment in five major cities. Nearly 1,800 participants aged 14 to 24 received employment through the program, adding over $1.5 million to the youth economy. Over 76 percent of these Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) participants came from households with low or moderate incomes.
In addition to employment, the program explored ways to provide banking and financial education services to participating youth. This year, just over one in five young adults in the program enrolled in direct deposit, with nearly 40 percent of those depositing at least some of their pay into savings accounts. The CFE Fund will work with cities over the next year to extend banking services to more young adults in the program, and to expand the learning community of SYEP program leads to re-envision their programs as banking access onboarding opportunities. This month, program leads are gathering in New York City to assess program best practice and replication opportunities.
A 17-year-old young woman in the Summer Jobs Connect program from Chicago noted, "Having a paycheck has made life easier at home, especially when it comes to paying bills. I save half my check and my savings is going towards buying a house."
Glenn Eagleson, Senior Planner and Policy Analyst, San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), manages San Francisco's program, and noted:
"It was very exciting to see how financial empowerment programming influenced our youth. This experience sent us back to the drawing board to figure out how to best incorporate banking access and targeted financial education programs in our Summer Youth Employment Program. Now we're working with our program partners to get input on program design to help us towards the goals of safe access to banking, direct deposit and savings."
Looking beyond Summer Jobs, the San Francisco DCYF is thinking about how financial empowerment programming can have a year-round impact. "Recognizing that there are a dozen other City departments that also run initiatives for 14-24 year olds, we look forward to influencing them to further integrate financial empowerment programming," Eagleson said.
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