With generous support from Bloomberg Philanthropies' American Cities Initiative and other funding partners, we are thrilled to announce the first cohort of 12 local government partners selected to begin planning to replicate the FEC model for their local residents: Akron, OH; Detroit, MI; Greenville County, SC; Houston, TX; Memphis, TN; Miami, FL; New Haven, CT; Pittsburgh, PA; Sacramento, CA; San Francisco, CA; Shreveport, LA; and Syracuse, NY. Read more about the FEC Public announcement  here.  

FEC Public partnerships generated significant local coverage, including in The Daily Orange and Business Journal News Network in Syracuse, NY; Model D and Michigan Chronicle in Detroit, MI; WBTV in Greenville, SC; The South Pittsburgh Reporter in Pittsburgh, PA; Shreveport News in Shreveport, LA; Cleveland.com,   WKSU,   Akron Beacon Journal, Crain's Cleveland Business, and Akron Community News in Akron, OH; and Memphis Daily News, and WMC-TV in Memphis, TN.

The CFE Fund is also excited to launch its new FEC Affiliates Network that will bring together cities, counties, states, and nonprofit organizations who provide other government-connected models of free financial counseling and coaching, learning from these experiences to further the professionalizing of the field. The application is now open for the FEC Affiliates Network. 

Updates From 

Before 2013, when the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund selected Lansing as one of five cities to replicate the Financial Empowerment Center model, my team and I did our best to connect residents to resources that could help. We tried to help because it was the right thing to do - because we care about the people of our city and want them to have support in a crisis.

Too often, though, these referrals focused on a "fish" and not a "fishing lesson" - on solving the short-term crisis rather than delivering long-term, sustainable stability. The "fish" we offer are critical components of the safety net, but we needed to go deeper, to root causes of instability. Normally, we would look to the nonprofit world for an existing service we could support at the government level. But with the Financial Empowerment Center, we had the opportunity to lead the effort, and to mold it in a way that was specific to the needs of our city.

Today, I and my team at the City of Lansing believe that economic development begins at the household level. I thank the CFE Fund for giving us the opportunity to learn this on the ground by funding the first three years of our Financial Empowerment Center. We have the data to prove that the model works, but we also have countless stories of successful FEC clients. Take Matthew, who was released from prison in June of 2016. In six months, he secured a full time job, opened a safe and affordable bank account, and purchased a car and a home. He has saved $1,000 for emergencies, and has opened a secured credit card on which he is maintaining on-time payments. With his counselor's help, Matthew resolved an identity theft issue that occurred during his incarceration.

With the Financial Empowerment Center now "baked in" to City government, and funded by the general fund, we have added other supports and other wonderful partners to help us deliver services to Lansing residents. One example is the launch of Lansing SAVE in January 2015, a college savings account opened at kindergarten for all students in the Lansing School District, in partnership with the District and Michigan State University Federal Credit Union. We also work with Lansing Promise and the Capital Area College Access Network to ensure wrap-around support of our young people and their education.

To be invited to join the CFE coalition was a tremendous honor, sitting at the same table with cities like New York and San Francisco, whose city governments created these tremendously successful municipal financial empowerment strategies we so often emulate. To co-chair the CFE Coalition with San Francisco these past two years has been a wonderful experience as well. Lansing has gone from "new kid on the Financial Empowerment block" to a state and national leader in the field, giving back what was so generously given to us.

As I hand over the baton to Mayor-elect Andy Schor on January 1, I am proud of the foundation we've established to ensure the best possible financial life for our city's residents. I am excited to see where his administration, and those to follow, will take it from here. I am grateful for the past, present and future guidance and support of the CFE Fund and CFE Coalition.