Financial Education. Network San Francisco. Year One Report

Transcription

1 Financial Education 2010 Network San Francisco Year One Report

2 Introduction The landscape of financial education services in San Francisco is broad, with multiple organizations offering services for diverse populations. While clients benefit from the financial education services, there is a lack of coordination, standardization and evaluation across the local sector. Until recently, there has been little effort to coordinate the many resources and organizations committed to promoting financial education. The Treasurer s Office of Financial Empowerment and the Charles Schwab Foundation convened a working group of local stakeholders and experts in financial education to share their reflections on the current state of financial education at the local level and create a collaborative vision for the future of financial education services in San Francisco. From these convening s the Financial Education Network (FEN-SF) was developed as a collaborative group of nonprofit service providers, philanthropic funders, and local public sector representatives dedicated to improving the provision of financial education services in the city. Furthermore, a 2009 study conducted in San Francisco by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco identified the local needs, the promising practices and further directed the effort of the collaborative. The mission of FEN-SF is to connect all San Franciscans to quality financial education by centralizing access to services, fostering learning communities among stakeholders and raising public awareness. This report provides an overview of the successes of the FEN-SF in its first year of operation and, most importantly, an opportunity to recognize the hard work of all of our partners who have contributed so much to this unique collaborative. In this recent economic downturn, people are struggling; that means government has an obligation to work even harder to assist those families and individuals in need. The work of the FEN-SF has provided an opportunity to change the way financial education is offered in San Francisco. This important collaboration is an opportunity to lay the foundation which will allow large and small CBOs alike to offer high quality services to San Franciscans in need. José Cisneros, Treasurer City and County of San Francisco 2

3 Financial Planning Day San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros, Mayor Gavin Newsom, the San Francisco Financial Planning Association (FPA), the US Conference of Mayors (USCM), the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) and the Financial Education Network (FEN-SF) launched San Francisco's first ever "Financial Planning Day." Our goal was to provide San Franciscans an opportunity to receive free private consultation with a professional Certified Financial Planner. Over 420 San Franciscans served 57 Certified Financial Planners Volunteered 7 Workshop Topics (Approximately 320 workshop attendees) Home Sweet Home: How to Buy Your First Home Home Expensive Home: From Refinancing to Foreclosure Managing Money in Hard Times Taking Control of Your Money and Your Life 20 Tips for Becoming a Smarter Investor Transitions: Financial Choices as Life Changes Know Your ABCDs: All About Bankruptcy, Credit, and Debt Financial Planning Days took place in over 20 cities in the United States and San Francisco s was amongst the best attended! "My family and I wish to extend our thanks to you for the invitation and opportunity to receive free financial advice from all the excellent, qualified, volunteer certified financial planners and speakers. We all learned something. I've already printed my free credit report and am in the process of gathering documents needed to prepare a will. I've scheduled a meeting this Friday to meet with my mutual funds representative to review my account to see what changes I need to make to get ready for retirement. An early retirement! All this and more, thanks to the advice gained this weekend." - FPD Attendee 3

4 Professional Development Series The Financial Education Network has launched an incredibly successful Professional Development Series geared towards financial education practitioners and stakeholders. Over 180 unique attendees took advantage of the Professional Development Series, many attending an average of two FEN-SF events and representing over 8 cities including Sacramento and San Jose. All FEN-SF Professional Development Series workshops had over 90% of attendees note that the series helped them gain Some Knowledge to A lot of Knowledge. In addition, the FEN-SF has partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to video record and archive all professional development workshops, PowerPoint presentations and handouts, making them available to the greater asset building community. The Professional Development Series included the following topics: New Credit Card Regulations & Rebuilding Credit A discussion on the changes to credit card regulations regarding disclosures, adjustment of interest rates, application of payments, and other issues. In addition, the session covers current issues around rebuilding/re-establishing credit under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the FICO Model. Featured Speaker: Rick Harper,Vice President of Program Services, Consumer Credit Counseling Services of San Francisco Understanding Financial Coaching and Counseling An overview of the differences between financial coaching, planning, education, and counseling, as well as an interactive coaching session with a professional financial coach. Panelists included: Emily Waterbury - Consultant, Co-Founder of EARN's Wealthcare Program Palak Joshi - Program Manager, SingleStop USA Margaret Libby -Executive Director, Mission SF Community Financial Center 4

5 Bankruptcy Resources for Financial Educators An overview of the bankruptcy filing process and a discussion around local resources to help service providers whose clients may be considering bankruptcy. Panelists included: Chris Heller - Counseling Supervisor, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of SF Grace So - Consumer Fellow Bankruptcy Clinic, SF Volunteer Legal Service Program Reno Fernandez -Attorney, Macdonald & Associates Behavioral Economics and Financial Education An overview of the basic principles and theories underlying behavioral economics, as well as real world examples of how to apply behavioral economics into financial education. Panelists included: Carolina Reid - Research Manager-Community Development, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Charise Fong - Director of Neighborhood and Economic Development, East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation Lauren Leimbach - Executive Director, Community Financial Resources Mini-Grant Program Small dollar grants are offered to organizations to host a financial education seminar for their clients or employees. Our classes cover topics such as basic account management skills, saving, budgeting, understanding credit, and avoiding financial pitfalls. All classes are taught by a trainer who is an expert in providing financial training to low-income communities. Classes are tailored to meet the specific needs of clients or employees, and provided in English, Spanish and Cantonese. To date we have had the following impact: 135 Financial Education Workshops conducted Over 2,100 San Franciscans reached through one of 60 partner organizations. Target neighborhoods include the Bayview/Hunter s Point, Mission District, Tenderloin, Western Addition, Excelsior and Treasure Island. 5

6 Research and Resources The FEN-SF is committed to providing reports and resources on best practices, innovative tools and studies on the local financial education landscape to program partners and key stakeholders. Research and resources developed include: Financial Education Standards The FEN-SF partnered with the SF Mayors Office of Housing to create Financial Education Standards for practitioners receiving funding through the city of San Francisco to host financial management workshops. The standards are a set of training and performance benchmarks designed to promote increased quality and reliability in the delivery of financial education workshops across the city. In practice, they provide a common roadmap which installs a baseline of excellence among all service providers. Network Structure and Services Report A study conducted by the Treasurer s Office of Financial Empowerment of 6 financial education networks across the United States. The study analyzes various network structures, services, resources and more. Financial Education in San Francisco The FEN-SF partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to conduct a study identifying gaps in services within the financial education landscape in San Francisco. The report includes detailed information about the program services of nine participating financial education providers, including information about their clients, and also summarizes the key service gaps and promising practices reported by the study participants. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Professional Development Series Archives An online archive of all FEN-SF professional development series video recordings, PowerPoint presentations, and handouts. 6

7 FEN-SF Steering Committee Charles Schwab Foundation: Elinore Robey, Roger K. Wong (Co-Chair) Consumer Credit Counseling Service of San Francisco: Rick Harper, Mimi Barrett Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco: Laura Choi Juma Ventures: Maria Sison Junior Achievement of Northern California: Kelly Tuominen Mission Asset Fund: Daniela Salas Mission Economic Development Agency: Josie Ramirez, Melissa Martin, Candy Acevedo Mission SF Community Financial Center: Margaret Libby Northeast Community Federal Credit Union: Lily Lo Treasurer s Office of Financial Empowerment: Leigh Phillips, Marco Chavarin (Co-Chair) San Francisco Housing Development Corporation: Ed Donaldson, Careem Conley SingleStop SF: Elena Chavez Quezada, Palak Joshi United Way of the Bay Area: Emily Harpster Advisors and Supporters Sage Financial Solutions: Saundra Davis Independent Consultant: Terri Feeley United Way of the Bay Area AmeriCorps VISTAs: Christa Brown, Kristina Ng Funding Partners Charles Schwab Foundation US Conference of Mayors United Way of the Bay Area Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Treasurer s Office of Financial Empowerment FOR MORE INFORMATION Marco Chavarín Office of Financial Empowerment City and County of San Francisco Marco.Chavarin@sfgov.org 7