The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has teamed up with the Department of Labor to offer a program aimed at increasing financial literacy for young people entering the workforce to qualifying municipalities. The program hopes to help such persons learn better, basic money management skills to “make the most of their paychecks” with the ultimate goal of assisting municipalities in incorporating the new financial literacy requirements in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 into their youth employment programs.
The CFPB found that millions of those just starting out do not have the necessary skills to effectively manage their personal finances, and the financial decisions that they make can have a negative impact on their future financial success. To increase financial literacy in these groups, the two agencies have developed a program that will provide “targeted technical assistance” in approximately 25 municipalities throughout the country that offer year-round youth employment programs by working “with local leaders to integrate financial knowledge and skills-building services into existing youth employment and training programs.”
The CFPB will provide technical assistance in the form of support and tools needed to integrate age-appropriate financial education, as well as to build partnerships to improve access to financial services, into their youth employment programs. It also will provide training programs to the municipality’s staff on youth-specific financial capability strategies, and convene program sites to share practices, tips and best practices from pilot sites on ways to promote financial capability in youth employment programs.
To be considered, the municipality must have: a year-round youth employment program to serve low-income youth, a commitment to youth financial capability, dedicated staff person(s) to coordinate the services, demonstrated organizational stability and impact particularly with multi-sector partners to serve low-income youth, accessibility to clients and a demonstrated need.
The deadline to apply is Monday, April 20, 2015. Statements of interest should be sent to [email protected].
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