CFE initiative to improve financial stability for residents 

The City of St Petersburg announced a collaboration with the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE) this week, resulting in a $100,000 grant. 

This grant, provided by the Fund, will be used to create strategies and programs that can help improve financial stability for residents. 

CFE Fund’s investment in the St. Pete community is a part of its CityStart initiative. 

Through the initiative, the Fund partners with city or county governments across the country to identify financial empowerment goals, develop strategies based on these goals and eventually outline a plan to make wealth more accessible to residents. 

The ultimate goal of the CityStart initiative is to help governments give residents “the tools they need to become financially stable,” said Katie Plat, Senior Communications and Development Director at the CFE Fund. 

To achieve this, the CFE Fund first works alongside government leadership to conduct research about the local community’s most pressing issues. During the research stage, community members can participate in roundtable discussions about challenges and opportunities.  

These conversations will be with internal city staff as well as business leaders and residents.  

“We’ll utilize that grant to have a series of conversations with both community leaders as well as the community at large, and our goal and aim is to understand both the historical and current narratives of wealth within our community and how we can focus on how government actions have supported wealth for some groups while hindering it for others,”  George Smith, St. Pete’s Chief Equity Officer added. 

Once data is collected, the Fund supports governments as they develop an actionable financial empowerment blueprint. 

This blueprint will present the different programs and initiatives St. Pete plans to launch to help residents build and keep wealth, Smith explained. After the document is prepared, it’ll be released to the public.  

“That’s when the real work begins, once the blueprint is complete,” he said. It will take time, effort and resources to put the programs into place. 

The entire collaborative process between the Fund and St. Pete will take around 12 to 18 months, Plat added. 

Every two weeks, the City of St. Petersburg discusses the progress of the project with the Fund’s team. Members of the Fund’s team are scheduled to come to St. Pete in July for a site visit, Smith said. 

“The City of St. Petersburg is committed to driving inclusive economic development that enhances quality of life for all residents, and we look forward to using this grant to help improve financial stability for our residents,” said Mayor Ken Welch in a prepared statement. “By working with the CFE Fund, we will use this grant to explore all financial empowerment strategies and discover innovative ways to increase wealth opportunities for everyone in St. Pete.” 

The CFE Fund, which has partnered with 44 cities and counties nationally with its CityStart initiative, has had meaningful results in the past.

A collaboration with Cincinnati, Ohio resulted in the creation of the Financial Freedom Plan, which helped residents pay off medical debts. The Fund’s partnership with Leon County, Florida led to programs that provided financial support for housing. 

Alongside St. Pete, CFE Fund’s most recent CityStart grant recipients include Kansas City, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; Milwaukee County, Wisconsin; Savannah, Georgia and Springfield, Massachusetts.