GRANT RECIPIENTSPRESENTED AT THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS

WINTER MEETING, JANUARY 2009

THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORSCOUNCIL FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CITY

Each year through the Dollar Wi$e Capacity Grants Program, three cities across America receive grants to support ongoing local financial education efforts. The Mayors National Dollar Wi$e Campaign, created by The United States Conference of Mayors and underwritten by Bank of America and the members of the Council for the New American City, offers these grants to financial education programs that are both innovative and effective.

The three cities awarded grants at the 2009 Conference of Mayors winter meetingSan Francisco, Seattle, and Omahaalong with grant recipients in past years (see map above) offer exemplary programs that provide a model for other cities and a novel approach to addressing the financial literacy needs of their residents. They have demonstrated their ability to build long-term capacity through the assistance of a Dollar Wi$e grant and are profiled in this publication.

INTRODUCTION

THE UNITED STATESCONFERENCE OF MAYORS

COUNCIL FOR THENEW AMERICAN CITY

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Pleasanton, California$15,000

Avondale, Arizona$15,000

Santa Fe, New Mexico$25,000

Quad Cities, Illinois-Iowa$15,000

Quincy, Illinois$15,000

Jackson, Mississippi$15,000

Louisville, Kentucky$25,000

Bowling Green, Kentucky$15,000

Savannah, Georgia$15,000

Detroit, Michigan$25,000

Miami, Florida$20,000

Caguas,Puerto Rico$15,000

San Francisco, California$25,000

Seattle, Washington$15,000

Omaha, Nebraska$15,000

In 2005, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Treasurer Jos Cisneros convened the leaders of the citys financial institutions and challenged them to join with the City in launching an unprecedented initiative to bank the unbanked. What resulted was Bank on San Francisco (BoSF), a comprehensive program focused on providing sound financial services to low- to moderate-income individuals by increasing access to the financial mainstream. This program has made San Francisco an emerging leader in financial education.

In order to provide comprehensive financial education across the city, San Francisco indentified key criteria to ensure effective delivery of message. Financial education must be culturally relevant, develop from the participants point of view, include specific objectives and outcomes related to the target populations identified needs, include the nuts and bolts of banking, and be fundamentally based around research on behavior economics. The Citys classes aim to create a firm foundation of knowledge around the terminology, concepts, and best practices of personal finance. A full-time program manager, funded by the City and working in the Office of the Treasurer, is responsible for all day-to-day operations and overall program design. In addition, grant funding has been raised to support a full-time outreach and financial education coordinator to establish a strong city-wide network of financial education opportunities.

Target audienceBoSF focuses on bringing underserved populations into the financial mainstream and providing the tools and education to create successful consumers. To do this, the program focuses on those communities most likely to lack access to safe and sound financial products. Approximately 50,000 households in San Francisco were unbanked when the program was launched. This translates to approximately one out of every five adults. Young, low-income, nonwhite adults without a college degree are the most likely to have no relationship with a bank or credit union and to lack basic financial skills. Estimates suggest that about half of the African- American and Latino adults in San Francisco are unbanked, compared to about 21 percent of white adults.

Based on this research, the program focuses primarily on the needs of low- to moderate-income African Americans and Latinos and targets nine city neighborhoods where a majority of these families live. Outreach is conducted most aggressively to the target demographic groups but since the program launched, a diverse range of nonprofits, employers, and community groups have accessed the programs services. The program reaches clients through trusted messengers like community-based organizations and a public awareness campaign, including:

An outdoor media campaign consisting of billboards and bus advertising citywide.Advertisements in local print media and city publications like the voter information guide.Direct-mail campaigns with key partners like Pacific Gas & Electric (55,000 recipients).The Working Families Credit, a $100 credit for low-income working families (12,000 recipients).Partnerships with employers, affordable-housing providers, and city agencies.

PartnershipsBoSFs nonprofit partner Earned Assets Resource Network (EARN) is one of Americas leading providers of individual development accounts (IDAs) and an expert in asset-building strategies for low-income families. EARN has played a pivotal role in creating the BoSF financial education program, extending the programs reach throughout the city, and rolling out key partnerships and pilot programs with various city agencies. In addition, BoSF partners with over 30 community-based organizations (CBOs) to deliver free financial management training to anyone who is interested. BoSF works with organizations that have long-standing reputations for effectively providing various services to the low- and moderate-income communities that comprise the programs target audience. Partner CBOs all work directly with low- to moderate-income

clients and utilize the programs core financial literacy courses. Partnering with CBOs has been an effective strategy which has allowed BoSF to increase its effectiveness by borrowing from the good name of partnering CBOs as well as reaching their clients during times that ensure a high volume of participation and engagement. BoSF also partners with 17 financial institutions that are committed to hosting at least four financial literacy classes throughout the year with various CBOs. In many instances BoSF

CONTINUED ON BACK COVER

THE 2009 DOLLAR WI$E

Capacity Grants ProgramSan Francisco

C A L I F O R N I A

MayorGavin Newsom

C O N T A C T

Leigh Phillips415.554.4320leigh.phillips@sfgov.org

Bank onSan Francisco

MODEL PROGRAM SAN FRANCISCO, CA

FOUNDING SPONSOR

U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORSCOUNCIL FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CITY

F I N A N C I A L E D U C A T I O N F O R A M E R I C A

M A Y O R S N A T I O N A L D O L L A R W I $ E C A M P A I G N

The Dollar Wi$e Campaign profiled Bank on San Francisco in its 2007 publication Model Program: Bank on San Francisco.

Approximately 52,000 households in Seattle and King County are unbanked. To help bring these resi-dents into the financial mainstream and avoid high-cost check cashers, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels joined with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Washington De-partment of Financial Institutions, The Seattle Foundation, and the Seattle-King County Asset Building Collaborative to launch Bank on Seattle-King County, based on the San Francisco model. This initiative helps people access affordable fi-nancial services including checking,

savings, credit, and financial education. Seattle is a partner in the Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) coalition and re-ceived a two-year, $200,000 grant that is being used to advance the financial education efforts.

Target audienceThe program targets residents of all incomes, including those facing foreclosure. Some strategies to reach the target population include direct mailings to residents of subsidized housing, free tax preparation, and bus advertising. All financial education classes are advertised on a Web site. The campaign is all about increasing and creating access to financial education.

PartnershipsTwenty-two banks and credit unions work collaboratively with the City and have agreed to promote access to and establish standards for financial products and services. Through this collaborative effort, the unbanked and the underbanked can access checking and savings accounts to meet their needs. Additionally, a key component of this initiative is to provide financial education. All participating financial institutions inform their clients of financial education opportunities and make referrals for these services. Several participating banks and credit unions offer financial incentives if their customers complete financial education classes. To take advantage of the teachable moment of open-ing a new bank account, participating banks and credit unions distribute a financial education brochure to new customers. Since refugees and immigrants are key populations the initiative is trying to reach, grassroots groups that serve and advocate for immigrant communities form an important component of Bank on Seattle-King County. In addition, the financial education brochure is being translated and printed in 12 different languagesAmharic, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrigna, Ukrainian, and Vietnameseto reach out to the variety of immigrants and refugees living in the area.

MayorGreg Nickels

C O N T A C T

Jerry DeGrieck206.684.0684jerry.degrieck@seattle.gov

SeattleW A S H I N G T O N

2-1-1 Community Information LineACORN of King County American Financial Solutions Archdiocesan Housing AuthorityCARES of WashingtonCatholic Community Services Center for Well-Being of Africans in America ClearPoint Financial Solutions Columbia Legal Services Compass Center Consumer Counseling Northwest Consumer Education and Training Services (CENTS) Delridge Neighborhood Development Association

Downtown Emergency Services Center El Centro de la Raza Habitat for Humanity HomeSight Homestead Community Land Trust Hopelink Housing Development Consortium Housing Resources Group International District Housing Alliance King County Housing Authority Lutheran Community Services Multi-Service Center Neighborhood House Northwest Justice Project NPower Seattle Parkview Services PeoplePoint

Pike Market Senior Center Port Jobs Renton Housing Authority Rose of Lima Seattle Goodwill Seattle Housing Authority Seattle Jobs Initiative SEIU 775 Society of St. Vincent de Paul Solid Ground St. Andrews Housing Group United IndiansUnited Way of King County UNITE HERE! Urban League of Metropolitan SeattleWashington Appleseed YWCA of Seattle King County

Bank of AmericaBanner BankBECUCathay BankChaseCity BankColumbia BankExpress Credit UnionFrontier Bank

HomeStreet BankKeyBankPacific International BankPlaza BankSeattle Metropolitan Credit UnionSeattle BankUnited Commercial

BankU.S. BankVerity Credit UnionViking BankWatermark Credit UnionWells Fargo BankWoodstone Credit Union

Bank on Seattle-King Countys partners

FINANCIAL PARTNERS

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

Nonprofit organizations provide financial education to new banking customers on a broad range of topics including managing checking and savings accounts, budgeting, money management, setting and achieving financial goals, credit building and repair, credit cards, homeownership, foreclosure prevention, purchasing insurance, and tax preparation. To make access more convenient, the program created the Seattle-King County Financial Education Providers Network. The network already has 18 nonprofit providers of financial education participating and continues to grow. Participating organizations offer free seminars and classes to help citizens learn about financial management. Through coordinating efforts, these providers hope to improve the quality of and access to financial education and to streamline and coordinate the efforts of financial education providers. The initiative also works with the 211 Community Information Line in all its advertising. Residents can call 211 and learn how to open accounts and find out how to sign up for financial education classes, or go to the website, www.EveryoneisWelcome.org.

Utilizing the workplace to improve the financial literacy of employers and employees alike has been an efficient and productive avenue for the City of Omaha to promote financial education and its Dollar Wi$e campaign. For the past two and a half years, the City and the Financial Stability Partnership (FSP), a collaborative venture between United Way of the Midlands and University of Nebraska at Omahas College of Public Affairs and Community Service, have teamed up with community agencies to provide financial education in the

workplace. By providing employers with onsite presentations and materials on financial education, employees can move toward financial stability and asset management. The Workplace Financial Education Program (WFEP) promotes financial education as an ongoing employee benefit. It uses the workplace as an infrastructure for the entire community to address the need for financial literacy. The program uses community resources that target employers and enables them to address financial health and wellness for their entire employee population. The program aims to increase employee participation in company retirement benefit programs; improve employee recruitment and retention; limit human-resource costs for payday advances, 401(k) loans, judgments, and wage garnishments; reduce employee turnover costs; and give employees access to second chance accounts which qualify for direct deposit. To date, the majority of graduates from WFEP have earned over $40,000 a year, or twice the federal poverty level of $20,000 for a family of four.

Target audienceBuilding upon the past success of WFEP, the City has also committed to targeting employers with employees earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level. The City and FSP work with the Omaha Chamber of Commerce to identify employers who pay wages under the federal poverty level to the majority of their employees. The focus targets employers experiencing significant turnover and absenteeism, as experience with graduates from the Workplace Financial Education Program has revealed a substantial reduction in both employee turnover and absenteeism in companies using the program. The City also partners with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Omaha Branch in promoting this program to employers. As a partner, the Federal Reserve Bank hosts luncheons for employers highlighting the benefits of WFEP using the success of FSPs current program. When an employer has agreed to provide WFEP onsite to employees, FSP staff will

work directly with the employers human resources staff to set up the program onsite. Once the human resources staff is ready to offer this program, employees will be recruited to participate at rollout sessions that describe the program. Successful graduates from other businesses come in to talk about their experience with the program.

PartnershipsThe City of Omahas partners include:

The FSP, which issued a request for proposal (RFP) to identify employers to modify the existing program to meet the needs of low- to moderate-income workers. The FSP and the City reviewed and screened proposals and selected providers that met the RFPs requirements.The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Omaha Branch, which hosts luncheons to recruit employers for the program. The Fed also assists with the program evaluation.The Chamber of Commerce of Greater Omaha, which recruits employers and promotes the WFEP at local events.Local banks and credit unions, which are invited to participate and open bank accounts for the unbanked.

Innovation and creativityThis program utilizes the following innovative concepts developed by FSP:

It is delivered onsite at businesses. The City and FSP work with employers to find the best time for training sessions.It offers nine hours of financial education to workers and includes up to six annual household financial consulting sessions in which workers and their spouses/partners develop a financial plan to reduce debt, develop savings, and begin moving towards financial stability.The cost per worker is $320. Based on the success of FSPs existing program, the City anticipates that employers continue this program, but more employers will want to incorporate this program. Both the current curricula and the financial consulting will be revised to meet the needs of workers earning up to 200% of the federal poverty level. Some examples of changes will be leveraging the Earned Income Tax Credit and other tax refunds to reduce debt and build emergency savings. Workers will also be encouraged to file a W-5 to increase their monthly take-home pay.Critical to the success of this program is encouraging participants to get banked. To that end, the City will work with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Omaha Branch to promote a Bank on the Midlands campaign similar to the successful effort in San Francisco.

WFEP is a functional curriculum that provides the citys low-income workers a constructive and practical resource for attaining financial stability. The long-term goal is to make financial education a standard benefit to employees in Omaha.

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OmahaN E B R A S K A

MayorMike Fahey

C O N T A C T

Gail Braun402.444.5286gbraun@ci.omaha.ne.us

M A Y O R S N A T I O N A L D O L L A R W I $ E C A M P A I G N

GRANT RECIPIENTS

PLEASE RECYCLE

202.861.6759

dollarwise@usmayors.org

www.dollarwiseonline.org

Mayors NationalDollar Wi$e Campaign

plays a key role in connecting CBOs with financial institutions to begin developing ongoing relationships that add value and are beneficial to all the players involved including the CBO, its clients, and the financial institution.

Innovation and creativityBank on San Francisco offers a financial trainer at no cost to partnering CBOs and a mini-grant of up to $300 to help organizations host a financial education seminar for their clients or employees. All classes are taught by a trainer who is an expert in providing financial training to low-income communities. Classes are tailored to meet specific needs and can be provided in English, Spanish, Cantonese, and Tagalog. BoSF also makes available a financial trainer with expertise in helping lower-income families reach financial goals. The class covers basic checking account management, budgeting, savings, credit, and avoiding financial pitfalls. Partner banks and credit unions are also available to help clients open accounts (at discretion of the host organization). Providing up to a $300 grant for partnering agencies allows them to be creative in reaching out to their population to increase attendance and participation. Organizations have used the funds to provide childcare, snacks and drinks, print outreach material, provide gift cards, apply money towards the clients first checking account, or to fund the cost of follow up with clients a month after the class to evaluate the class impact. BoSF has also created the opportunity for clients to follow up with a one-on-one financial counselor through BoSFs partnership with EARN and Balancepro.net, a confidential over-the-phone financial counseling agency. Clients who want to dive deeper into their personal finances and address questions or concerns can use Balancepro.net for unlimited over-the-phone assistance with a financial counselor.

SAN FRANCISCOCONTINUED FROM INTERIOR

Now we have 17 banks and credit unions that are

part of this, Mayor Gavin Newsom reports. And

what they found ... surprised even them. And that

is there was a tremendous amount of wealth and

capacity. The average checking account [opened

through Bank on San Francisco] now is close to a

thousand dollars. No one anticipated that.

By backing these efforts with supportive financial education, San Francisco is proving that with the right products, services, and resources, everyone can be successful in the financial mainstream. By combining the influence of government, the regulatory power of the Federal Reserve Bank, the reach of community groups, and the market drive of mainstream financial institutions, San Francisco has leveraged the marketplace of available financial products and services to better serve the unbanked market.

Mayor Gavin Newsom accepts his citys Dollar Wi$e Capacity Grant at The U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, D.C., January 18, 2009.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, 1st Vice President, The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), center, stands with the plaque for his citys Dollar Wi$e Capacity Grant at the USCM winter meeting in Washington, D.C., January 18, 2009. He is flanked by, left to right, USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran; Miami Mayor Manuel A. Diaz, USCM President; Burnsville, Minnesota, Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz, USCM 2nd Vice President; and Bank of Americas Angie Garcia Lathrop.

Left to right, Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey; Chad Stackhouse, Branch Manager, Mutual 1st Federal Credit Union; Julie Kalkowski, Managing Director, Financial Stability Partnership, United Way of the Midlands; Virgil Keller, Vice President of Planning and Community Development, United Way of the Midlands; and Molly McGrath, Community Affairs Specialist, Omaha Branch, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, accept the citys Capacity Grant for $15,000 in a ceremony at city hall, April 6, 2009.

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