Tempe continues its work to launch its Financial Empowerment Center, which aims to support increasing the financial well-being of low- and moderate-income residents through financial coaching.
Community Health and Human Services Director Tim Burch and Rose Harvey from the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund gave a presentation during the April 3 work study session, providing council with a planning update for the center, which will be located at the Tempe EnVision Center.
Burch wrote in a city report the department applied for and received a $20,000 one-year planning grant from the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund for the planning process for creation of the center.
At the end of the planning, Tempe will be eligible for $150,000 in funding for two years from the CFE Fund to implement the program in the city.
Burch said at the meeting the presentation’s goal was to link back to the work they’ve been doing to the core functions of the financial empowerment center, which consists of ending homelessness, reducing the poverty rate and supporting community health and wellbeing.
“So the idea of making sure people have access to high-quality financial counseling, we see as a linkage to ending homelessness,” Burch said.
The center will get people back on their feet steadily so that they hopefully don’t return back to Tempe’s systems, Burch said.
Harvey delved into planning details with council, going over the fund’s history and what center initiative entails.
The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund is a New York-based philanthropic organization with the mission of supporting local governments and embedding financial stability into their infrastructure through grant funding as with Tempe.
Going over the center’s concept, Harvey said it’s a public service that offers professional, individualized and one-on-one financial counseling as a free public service available to all residents.
“This is a 15-year-old program model, and CFE Fund has been working with local governments for the past 10 years to replicate this across the country,” Harvey said.
She highlighted there are 37 financial empowerment center partners open across the country, with more than 189,000 clients served and a $315 million reduction in debt through this initiative.
While it is a national program, Harvey said the group has an “intensive” localized planning process to ensure it works for every community and its residents. She also noted Tempe could be the center to launch in the Southwest.
Harvey emphasized how the financial empowerment center initiative not only provides free, individualized financial counseling to low income residents from trained counselors, but it also supports the city’s goals.
“It’s really meant to support the existing work the city is already doing to be a supportive program for all the other initiatives and priorities that you all have as local government, ensuring that all your residents are supported from a public point of view,” she said.
Additionally, the center is designed to be launched without the need for a pilot program so it is ongoing and sustainable, according to Harvey.
Tempe is continuing its exploratory planning process for the center, with a full-fledged plan to be developed by the end of the year.
Harvey said the CFE Fund and Tempe staff have work to do with outreach to the community about what are their priorities with financial planning. Implementation will include the hiring of a dedicated local government manager for the center and financial counselor, the designing of a training and marketing plan and securing further grant funding.
In the following council discussion, the council members expressed support for the continued work on establishing the Tempe Financial Empowerment Center.
Vice Mayor Doreen Garlid did ask about the time line to implementation, to which Burch said could take anywhere from eight to 12 months.
Garlid asked if that could be accelerated to potentially shorten the time line to six to eight months for the planning and implementation, so community members could start taking advantage of these services as soon as possible.
“We will talk to our technical advisors and absolutely make sure that we keep the efficacy while moving at the speed of the need for our community,” Burch said.
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Meet Caroline Caroline Yu joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2020 as a summer intern covering Scottsdale. As an intern, she continued her coverage of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe. After graduating in 2022, Caroline became a full-time reporter for Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is currently reporting for the Tempe market.
Community: She is a supporter of the environment and tries to get involved with related community events.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, with a minor in French.
Random Fact: She used to be a ballet dancer for 10 years.
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