Education at the Workplace

1

Community Initiatives to Reach Underserved
Consumers
Community Development Policy Summit Cleveland,
OH June 11, 2008 Louisa M. Quittman Director,
Community Programs Office of Financial
Education, U.S. Department of the Treasury
2
Overview

• Treasurys Office of Financial Education
• Treasury Community Financial Access Pilot
• FDIC Alliance for Economic Inclusion
• Bank on Cities Campaign
• Bank on California
• What have we learned about what works?
• Where do we go from here?
• Resources

3
Why is the Treasury Department interested in
financial access?

• Treasurys mission includes promoting the
  nations economic prosperity, financial security,
  and enhancing the financial literacy of all
  Americans.
• Challenges of being unbanked and underbanked
• Greater risk for theft and robbery due to keeping
  or carrying cash
• May pay more for basic financial services
• Harder to save for emergencies or for the future
• Harder to build positive credit history and
  access credit
• Not fully participating in local and national
  economy
• Benefits of Financial Access
• Safe savings vehicle which may earn interest
• Easier, safer, less expensive transactions
• Build relationship with financial institution
• Ability to access asset-building credit
• On-ramp to individual, family and community
  wealth building

4
Treasurys Office of Financial Education

• Created in 2002 to promote access to financial
  education to help all Americans obtain knowledge
  and skills to make informed financial choices
  throughout their lives.
• Activities include
• Public outreach and awareness
• Share standards and good practices
• Provide technical assistance and broker
  partnerships
• Coordinate the federal interagency Financial
  Literacy and Education Commission
• Support the private-sector Presidents Advisory
  Council on Financial Literacy

5
Community Financial Access Pilot

• 18 month pilot to increase access to financial
  services and financial education for low- and
  moderate-income individuals.
• Demonstrate effective ways to build sustainable
  community-based approaches.
• Share best practices, advice, referrals, and
  research with participating communities.
• Help strengthen local networks, identify existing
  resources, and fill any gaps.
• Make available information from the pilots, so
  that other communities may develop their own
  strategies.
• Information and tools are on the webpage
  www.treas.gov/financialeducation (more will be
  added).

6
Community Financial Access Pilot Sites
7
FDICs Alliance for Economic Inclusion

• Provide a gateway into the financial mainstream
  to enhance the economic well-being of low- and
  moderate-income individuals and families,
  particularly in low- and moderate-income
  neighborhoods, minority and immigrant
  communities, and rural areas.
• Works to provide innovative low-cost products and
  services and expanded financial education
  efforts. For example
• Savings accounts
• Remittance products
• Short-term loans
• Builds broad-based coalitions comprised of
• financial institutions community-based
  organizations
• researchers employers
• faith-based organizations state and local
  governmental agencies
• federal bank regulators bank trade associations
• Identifies local partners, convenes meetings,
  facilitates discussions of local financial
  service needs and forms working groups to develop
  products and marketing strategies to reach the
  underserved populations identified.

8
FDIC Alliance for Economic Inclusion Locations

• Alabama rural and Gulf Coast area
• Greater Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts
• Chicago
• Houston, Austin and San Antonio, Texas
• Kansas City Metro Area
• South Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Wilmington, Delaware
• Rochester, New York
• Los Angeles

9
National League of Cities Bank on Cities Campaign

• National League of Cities is a national member
  organization. Through this initiative NLC will
  work with city governments to implement efforts
  to help residents build and protect their savings
  and enhance family financial stability by
  connecting families to the financial mainstream.
• Activities include
• cross-city peer exchanges
• connect the cities with national experts and
  resources
• site visits and one-on-one guidance to city
  teams
• assist in developing action plans and goals
• Participating cities
• Boston, MA Los Angeles, CA Seattle, WA
• Miami, FL New York, NY Savannah, GA
• Providence, RI San Antonio, TX San Francisco,
  CA

10
Bank on California

• Announced in January 2008, by Governor Arnold
  Schwarzenegger, Bank on California will be a
  state-wide initiative to encourage financial
  institutions to provide starter accounts for
  low-and moderate income residents. It is a
  collaborative, voluntary initiative with the help
  of financial institutions, city mayors, federal
  bank regulatory agencies, and community groups.
• Activities include
• developing baseline product criteria for
  starter accounts
• providing education and encouragement regarding
  opening accounts
• forming diverse coalitions of financial
  institutions, regulators, city mayors and
  nonprofits to market the accounts to Californians
  without bank accounts
• building the money management skills of
  California teens and adults. 
• Planned communities
• San Francisco (Bank on San Francisco is already
  implemented)
• Los Angeles
• Oakland
• Fresno (in conjunction with the Community
  Financial Access Pilot)
• San Jose

11
What have we learned so far about what works?

• Partnerships!
• Build on strengths
• each partner should do what they do well
• Sustainability
• be in it for the long term
• Make it a core business
• serving the low- and moderate-income market as a
  long-term value proposition
• rather than a special project
• Make it easy and compelling
• provide financial education and services in
  conjunction with other desired or required
  services
• Strong links are crucial
• finding and keeping the right partners may take
  effort

12
Where do we go from here?

• Encourage more experiments
• Learn and adapt as we go
• Share findings--what works and what doesnt
• Whats the end result?
• help people make the most of their money
• better use of benefits and asset building
  opportunities
• Expanded financial opportunities and choices
• More families are better able to meet their
  financial hopes and dreams

13
Treasury Department Resources

• Office of Financial Education information
  resources at www.treas.gov/finanicaleducation.
• Technical Assistance Center via the website or
• [phone]
• www.MyMoney.gov
• Contact us
• Louisa Quittman, Director, Community Programs
• Louisa.Quittman_at_do.treas.gov
• [phone]