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,…

VITA is Vital Help for Millions of Taxpayers

(by Rebecca Thompson, Project Director, Taxpayer Opportunity at CFED) VITA helps millions of low-income Americans to have their taxes done each year at an accuracy rate of 94%. The programs ensure that taxpayers claim all the credits they are entitled to (like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit). With all VITA has to…

The Power of Paradox to Build Financial Well-Being

(by Laura Choi, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco) Efforts to affect systems-level change to improve financial well-being for families and communities must stay grounded in the simple principles of trust, hope and a belief in the productive capacity and strength of every person—or they are bound to fail. In the latest post in a…

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…

What is “Worth?” – Brent Kakesako Discusses What It’s Worth

(By Brent Kakesako, Hawai’i Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development) “What is productive agricultural land and clean water worth? What are strong communal relationships worth? What is a clear connection to heritage, to culture, to past, to future, and self, worth? As I read CFED’s new book What It’s Worth, I asked myself those questions—questions that families…

Well Worth the Read

(By Dave Snyder, Minnesota Asset Building Coalition) “What It’s Worth makes a broad and powerful case for connecting a set of financial capability skills with the right kinds of financial products and services at the right moments during the financial lifecycle of our clients and our communities. It highlights the importance of integrating those interventions with…

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

by Greg Fischer, Mayor of Louisville, KY “My city of Louisville has been fortunate to have had a dramatic economic transformation in the last five years: We’ve created more than 47,000 new jobs, unemployment has dropped from 10.3 percent to 4.8 percent, our $25 million budget deficit has become a $19 million surplus, and we’ve…

Update: New Speakers Confirmed for December 8th Financial Well-Being Summit

We are excited to share some of the notable speakers who will be participating in the December 8 Financial Well-Being Summit. With experts in housing, education, government, financial services, public health and community development, this event will be a great place to learn what we can collectively do to tackle poverty and put more families…

Live Webcast of Financial Well-Being Summit

Join us Tuesday, December 8, for a live webcast to mark the release of What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Future of Families, Communities and the Nation. Hear from thought leaders, policymakers, employers and others who will highlight innovations happening across sectors to break down the barriers that keep too many families from financial success. At…