What Happens When Hospital Waiting Rooms Become Tax Prep Sites?

Twenty percent of eligible families don’t take advantage of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Dr. Lucy Marcil and Dr. Michael Hole of Boston Medical Center hope to change this through StreetCred. Frustrated by the financial worries facing their patients, they established the program in 2015 to help make tax services more accessible. “Our primary…

Closing the Gender Pay Gap—Before 2059

  Despite significant progress on women’s wealth and equal pay, challenges remain. And while the wage gap has begun to narrow substantially, it is closing more slowly now than before. At the current rate of progress, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research projects that it won’t close until 2059. In honor of Women’s History Month,…

Race, Place and the Financial Future of St. Louis

(by Sean Luechtefeld, CFED) Photo by Paul Sableman. “I do not wish to minimize the complexity of the problems that need to be faced in achieving disarmament and peace. But I think it is a fact that we shall not have the will, the courage and the insight to deal with such matters unless in…

Want People to Make Better Financial Choices? Give Them Better Financial Choices

(by Kate Griffin, CFED) “The choices people make are the choices people have.” I’ve been on a search to understand how the health field approaches behavior change, to find lessons for our financial work. In reading the remarkable story of Louisville, KY — and especially the personal story of Steve Tarver, CEO of the Louisville YMCA — this remark struck me.…

4 Opportunities for Closing the Wealth Gap

(by Lee Davenport and Sean Luechtefeld, CFED) Last month, the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and San Francisco, along with CFED and Citi Foundation, convened a diverse range of national and regional leaders in New York to discuss a new book, What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Future of Communities, Families and the Nation.…

Announcing the Book Club in a Box

Interested in holding discussion group about financial health and well-being to explore solutions in your community? When Prosperity Now (formerly CFED), the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Citi Foundation were dreaming up What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Future of Families, Communities and the Nation, we did so with a commitment to ensuring…

As Chicago Proves, Student Debt Isn’t Necessarily Good Debt

(by Lee Davenport and Sean Luechtefeld, Prosperity Now) “On June 7, the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago and San Francisco, Prosperity Now (formerly CFED) and Citi Foundation convened 120 civil rights, youth empowerment and community economic development leaders in Chicago to discuss What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Future of Communities, Families and the Nation. The…

Understanding the Many Intersections Between Health & Wealth

(By Lee Davenport and Kate Griffin, Vice President for Programs, CFED) At the What It’s Worth event in Philadelphia on May 5, 2016, expert panelists discussed the many ways health and wealth are intimately linked. The event, co-hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Center for Public Health Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania…

Financial Health Is Public Health

(By Kate Griffin, Vice President for Programs, CFED) As we take What It’s Worth and all its great ideas on the road this year, the theme that seems to be resonating with audiences is the intersection between physical health and financial health — not just in terms of a two-way, cause-and-effect relationship, but also how practical and…

Financial Well-Being’s Critical Role in Building a Local Economy

The steps Louisville is taking to financially empower its public employees and its citizens point the way. The following post originally appeared on in Governing and was written by What It’s Worth author Greg Fischer. My city of Louisville has been fortunate to have had a dramatic economic transformation in the last five years: We’ve created more…