Financial Empowerment

The City Encourages New Yorkers to Use IDNYC to File Their Taxes for Free

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 24, 2016

AMERICA SAVES WEEK: CITY ENCOURAGES NEW YORKERS TO USE IDNYC TO FILE THEIR TAXES FOR FREE AND OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT TO SAVE THEIR REFUND

Bronx Event Highlights Free Tax Prep during America Saves Week and Opening a Bank Account Using IDNYC

BRONX, NY – Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Acting Commissioner Alba Pico and Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) Commissioner Nisha Agarwal today joined Spring Bank President Eric Pallos and Ariva Executive Director Irene Baldwin to encourage New Yorkers to use their IDNYC to file their taxes for free and, as part of America Saves Week 2016, open a bank account where they can save their refund. New Yorkers who earned $54,000 or less with children, or $30,000 or less without children, can file their taxes for free at one of more than 200 in-person sites across the city, like the Ariva site at Spring Bank in the Bronx. IDNYC is accepted as the photo ID needed to file your taxes. Spring Bank also accepts IDNYC as a primary form of identification to open a bank account.

“Tax season is a very crucial moment for many families with lower and moderate incomes as their refund is often one of the largest checks they’ll receive all year,” said DCA Acting Commissioner Alba Pico. “We encourage New Yorkers, especially the immigrant community in the Bronx, to know that they can use their IDNYC to file their taxes for free and they can also use tax time as an opportunity to save and open a bank account using their IDNYC.”

Read the full press release here: IDNYC and Free Taxes for New Yorkers

Public Awareness Campaign Encourages New Yorkers to Get Financial Counseling at the City’s Financial Empowerment Centers

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 12, 2014

DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS LAUNCHES PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO ENCOURAGE NEW YORKERS TO GET FINANCIAL COUNSELING AT THE CITY’S FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT CENTERS

Advertisements Feature the Stories of Real New Yorkers Using the City’s Financial Empowerment Centers to Tackle Their Debt, Save for the Future, Improve Their Credit, and Open Bank Accounts

Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Julie Menin today announced the launch of “You Can…,” a public awareness campaign that lets New Yorkers know that they can go to one of nearly 30 Financial Empowerment Centers across all five boroughs to get free, one-on-one, professional financial counseling. The campaign features five clients and their stories about how counselors at the City’s Financial Empowerment Centers helped them take control of their debt, save for the future, improve their credit score, and open bank accounts. The advertisements are running in the city’s subway cars and stations, as well as online and in a dozen citywide and community newspapers in every borough, both in English and Spanish.

Read the full press release: FEC Public Awareness Campaign Launch

Grand Opening Event of the Ventanilla de Asesoría Financiera at the Consulate General of Mexico

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2014

DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND THE CONSULATE GENERAL OF MEXICO IN NEW YORK CUT THE RIBBON ON THE VENTANILLA DE ASESORÍA FINANCIERA TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL COUNSELING SERVICES TO MEXICAN NEW YORKERS

Financial Counseling Window Opening Kicks Off the Consulate’s Financial Education Week

Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) First Deputy Commissioner Alba Pico, Ambassador and Consul General of Mexico Sandra Fuentes-Berain, and President of the Mexican National Agency for the Protection and Defense of the Users of Financial Services Mario Di Costanzo today cut the ribbon on the first Ventanilla de Asesoría Financiera (Financial Counseling Window) at the Mexican Consulate of New York and kicked off the Consulate’s Financial Education Week.  The Ventanilla will offer one-on-one financial counseling to Mexican New Yorkers, provide access to a broad network of services at the Consulate, and help Mexican nationals and families living in New York City achieve greater financial security.  The program is made possible through generous support from Citi Community Development in partnership with the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund and counseling services are provided by Ariva and Qualitas of Life Foundation.

Read the full press release: Mexican Consulate Ventanilla Launch

NYC Makes it Easier for NYers to File Taxes for Free

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2014

THE CITY MAKES IT EASIER FOR NEW YORKERS TO FILE TAXES FOR FREE WITH MORE SITES THAN EVER BEFORE AND VIRTUAL SITES WHERE FILERS CAN DROP OFF TAX DOCUMENTS AND PICK UP COMPLETED RETURNS LATER

Department of Consumer Affairs Kicks Off the City’s Annual Tax Campaign and Urges Any New Yorker Who Made $58,000 or Less to File for Free

Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) today launched New York City’s 12th Annual Tax Credit Campaign. The tax season has begun and the IRS is now accepting 2013 returns. This year, the City has more free ways to file a return than ever before with the expansion of the Virtual VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program. Fast, easy and convenient, Virtual VITA sites are coordinated by the Food Bank For New York City and taxes are completed  by IRS-trained preparers. They allow filers to drop off their tax documents and return later to review and file the completed return. Across the five boroughs, there are 100 free sites, both virtual and traditional and eligible New Yorkers also have the option to file for free online at nyc.gov/taxprep. The SaveUSA program is also offered at select VITA sites for its seventh year. SaveUSA is unique savings program for tax filers that offers a 50 percent match if they deposit at least $200 of their tax refund into a SaveUSA account and maintain the deposit for one year.

Read the full press release: Tax Season 2014 Launch

New Report Reveals Banking Needs of Three of NYC’s Growing Immigrant Communities

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 19, 2013

DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS RELEASES REPORT REVEALING BANKING NEEDS OF THREE OF NEW YORK CITY’S GROWING IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES

 80 Percent of Immigrant Survey Participants Who Make Less than $300 a Week Report Savings

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Office of Financial Empowerment today, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), released the Immigrant Financial Services Study Research Brief, which surveyed more than 1,300 immigrants from China, Ecuador and Mexico to deepen the City’s understanding of the financial service needs and behaviors of New York City’s diverse and vibrant immigrant community. It revealed that, while all three groups have savings, some have a longer pathway to banking than others, in part due to misperceptions about the process of opening a banking account and access to financial institutions. The Study is part of MOIA’s One NYC One Nation initiative to strengthen immigrant communities and was made possible by generous support from Citi Community Development and New York Community Trust.

Read the full press release: Immigrant Financial Services Study

DCA Announces Financial Empowerment APP Hackathon to Help New Yorkers Manage Their Money

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2013

DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS ANNOUNCES “FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT APP” HACKATHON TO HELP NEW YORKERS MANAGE THEIR MONEY

 Capital One and Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund Sponsor Hackathon on March 2 – 3rd at the DUMBO Loft

Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Jonathan Mintz today invited developers to create digital tools to help New Yorkers achieve their financial goals at DCA’s first hackathon, a collaborative technology design event.  The weekend event begins on March 2nd at the DUMBO Loft.  The team or individual who creates the winning app will receive $1,000 and two second place winners will receive $500 each.  Interested firms, as well as individual developers and designers, are invited to learn more and sign up to participate at nyc.gov/OFEHackathon.  The Financial Empowerment Hackathon is generously supported by Capital One and the Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund.  Judges for the event include representatives from Capital One, Google.org, ideas42, LearnVest and DCA.  Space is limited to 150 participants and registration closes at 5p.m. on Friday, March 1.

Read the full press release: OFE Hackathon Winner Announcement

Professionalizing the Field of Financial Education & Counseling

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Municipal Financial Empowerment: A Supervitamin for Public Programs
Strategy #2: Professionalizing the Field of Financial Education and Counseling

About the Report:

This Report, the second in a series about the “supervitamin effect” of improved social service outcomes when integrating financial empowerment and asset building strategies into public programs, details New York City’s efforts to provide high-quality, effective financial counseling at scale and professionalize the field itself. The Report further highlights the City’s understanding that to realize the supervitamin effect of integrating financial counseling, such counseling must be of consistent, demonstrable, and superior quality.

The need to professionalize this field is critical given widespread variability in the quality and consistency of current financial education and counseling programming, the importance to recipients of counseling services, and the supervitamin effect that financial empowerment programming can have when successfully integrated. Efforts toward professionalization undertaken by the Department of Consumer Affairs Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) include establishing standardized client outcomes with a rigorous data tracking system, developing intensive financial counselor trainings, standardizing the approach to financial counseling, and developing a professional network of practitioners.

My Role:

As a Financial Education Associate at the OFE, I conducted background research to understand already existing trainings and courses for financial counselors in other municipalities around the nation. I was also a co-author of the report.

 

Read the full report: Supervitamin Report 2