Press Releases

View More In This Section

$20,000 grant to help Birmingham further Identify strategies to financially empower residents

Birmingham, Ala. – The City of Birmingham has been selected to receive a $20,000 planning grant and technical assistance to help identify strategies that will financially empower residents. The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund’s CityStart initiative, with support from JPMorgan Chase and others, offers mayors and their administrations a structured approach to identify financial empowerment goals, convene stakeholders for sustainable success, develop concrete strategies and craft an actionable blueprint rooted in local priorities and opportunities.

Birmingham will receive an intensive six to nine-month technical assistance engagement partnership and a $20,000 planning grant.

This grant only adds to Mayor Randall L. Woodfin administration’s core focus on financial empowerment and economic opportunity. Birmingham, working with the CFE Fund, will craft its municipal financial empowerment blueprint to identify actionable implementation steps based on the financial needs of residents, key mayoral priorities and partnership opportunities. Development of the blueprint will be based on a series of briefings with key stakeholders and a “boot camp” event that brings together key constituencies, including local philanthropic and corporate foundations, financial empowerment and literacy nonprofits, and government and civic leaders.

“I’m excited at the opportunity to collaborate with local and national leaders as we design new pathways to financial empowerment for Birmingham residents,” said Mayor Woodfin. “We take this work seriously, especially because building an engaged and civically-active community begins with financial stability.”

Birmingham was one of seven cities selected for this initiative. Other cities include: Columbus, Ohio; Jackson, Miss; Jersey City, N.J.; New Orleans; Madison, Wis.; and Waco, Texas.

Jonathan Mintz, president and chief executive officer of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, said he looks forward to working with Mayor Woodfin on this program, and he thanked JPMorgan Chase for its investment in municipal financial empowerment.

“Cities control a host of policies, programs and funding streams that can transform the lives of residents with low incomes on a large scale. Across the nation, more and more city leaders are turning to innovative financial empowerment strategies to improve the financial stability of their residents,’’ Mintz said.

JPMorgan Chase’s support of CFE Fund is part of the bank’s $125 million, five-year commitment to improving the financial health of people in the U.S. and across the world, especially those in underserved communities.

JPMorgan Chase is committed to giving the people of Birmingham the tools they need to better manage their financial lives. As we are opening branches in Alabama, Chase is pleased to support the CFE Fund,” said Chip Smallwood, market executive for JPMorgan Chase in Birmingham.

The CityStart initiative draws on the CFE Fund’s extensive programmatic work with local government leaders in over 80 cities, connecting critical on-the-ground insights about the impact of financial instability on families, communities and municipal budgets with tangible, measurable, and sustainable municipal strategies to improve families’ financial lives. CityStart cities have historically leveraged their engagement with the CFE Fund to further their commitment to this work.

About the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund
The CFE Fund supports municipal efforts to improve the financial stability of households by leveraging opportunities unique to local government. By translating cutting-edge experience with large scale programs, research, and policy in cities of all sizes, the CFE Fund assists mayors and other local leaders in over 80 cities to identify, develop, fund, implement, and research pilots and programs that help families build assets and make the most of their financial resources.