Philadelphia and Clarifi Receive $3.3 Million Grant to Offer Free Financial Counseling to Low-Income Residents

Philadelphia is one of five cities that exhibited committed leadership and strong partnerships for replicating New York’s Financial Empowerment Center model.

A $3.3 million investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Living Cities will help to alleviate poverty in Philadelphia.

Through the grant, Philadelphia plans to create Financial Empowerment Centers, which will open in March and be operated by Mayor Nutter in partnership with the nonprofit firm Clarifi. Trained counselors hired and managed by Clarifi will offer free, one-on-one financial training to low-income residents.

The program is designed to replicate New York’s evidence-based Financial Empowerment Center model. The New York center opened in 2008 and helped more than 19,000 residents reduce their debt by more than $9 million, while saving nearly $1 million.

“We know one of the key pathways out of poverty is to increase the financial stability of low-income households by boosting income, decreasing debt, and increasing access to saving and asset-building opportunities,” Mayor Michael Nutter said in a statement. “By offering personalized financial literacy services to low-income individuals, we make it possible for Philadelphia families to move toward self-sufficiency and, ultimately, better position our city economically for the future.”

The three year plan
The $3.3 million in funding will go toward staffing and equipping the Municipal Services Building, El Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Peoples’ Emergency Center, the Welcoming Center for New Philadelphians, Community College of Philadelphia, and Community Legal Services at Broad and Erie. The plan is to educate 9,000 low-income Philadelphians in the program’s first three years.

Patty Hasson, president and executive director of Clarifi added, “As a nonprofit provider of financial counseling to over 600,000 individuals in the Philadelphia region for 47 years, Clarifi is committed and excited to expand its resources to support the Financial Empowerment initiative.”

Philadelphia joined Denver, Lansing, Nashville, and San Antonio in receiving a total of $16.2 million awarded through a competitive process in which nearly fifty cities applied. The five chosen cities exhibited the “most thoughtful, creative approach, as well as committed leadership and strong partnerships for replicating the model in their local communities,” according to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.