Our Founding Partners
Aspen Institute
www.aspeninst.org
The Economic Opportunities Program at the Aspen Institute advances strategies that connect the poor and underserved to the mainstream economy. It provides practical tools, training, and research-based information to organizations that help low-income individuals start a business, find a better job, and build wealth. Since 2003, Aspen has conducted research, convened meeting and piloted approaches to promoting scale and sustainability in the nonprofit sector.
Center for the Study of Social Policy
www.cssp.org
The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) is a national non-profit policy research and technical assistance organization. Our mission is to develop and promote public policies and practices that strengthen families and communities to produce equal opportunities and a better future for all children. CSSP’s work takes an interdisciplinary perspective that reaches across traditional categorical boundaries such as social services, health, education, juvenile justice, housing, workforce development, income support and other areas. CSSP’s approach reflects our experience that positive change for children, youth, families and communities is most likely to happen when there is a dual focus on both policy and practice combined with rigorous professional standards, attention to research evidence about what works, and a clear focus on measurable outcomes.
CCA Global Partners
www.ccaglobalpartners.com
With 15 companies and nearly 3,600 locations producing $10.2 billion in aggregate annual sales and 88 consecutive quarters of profitability, CCA Global Partners knows how to set progress in motion. Considered together, CCA Global’s flooring affiliates represent the largest group of flooring retailers in the world. Our lighting, biking, and mortgage banking affiliates are also becoming leaders in their industries in great part due to our focus on giving business owners the edge with independent business platforms.
Our business model uses shared infrastructure to support small independent operations – a mission with clear resonance for both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors.
Community Financial Resources
www.communityfinancialresources.org
Founded as a non-profit in 2003 by former bank executives and community activists, CFR has a unique business model that combines industry know-how with consumer advocacy. Our mission is to develop financial products and services that help economically disadvantaged families; build the capacity of community-based organizations to provide asset-building strategies to their constituents; and assist financial services providers in offering consumer friendly products. CFR has conducted groundbreaking research on the banking needs of the working poor, rolled-out a prepaid debit card program to thousand of consumers through community-based partnerships, and worked with organizations across the country on programs that help low-income families become more financially secure.
Credit Builders Alliance
www.creditbuildersalliance.org
Credit Builders Alliance helps community nonprofits – including CDFIs, microenterprise and housing development organizations, asset building organizations and community credit unions – have better access to credit building strategies. Our innovative business model was developed in coordination with nonprofits and the major credit bureaus – and reflects a package of products and services that bridges the needs and demands of the two industries for reliable, high quality data on unbanked and underbanked families. CBA’s purpose is to help low and moderate income individuals currently served by non-traditional financial and asset building institutions to build their credit and access conventional financing in order to grow their businesses and/or personal assets.
D2D Fund, Inc.
www.d2dfund.org
D2D Fund seeks to expand access to financial services, especially asset building opportunities, for low income families by creating, testing and deploying innovative financial products and services. D2D works with the financial services industry, national non-profit groups, grassroots community agencies, and public policy organizations to generate promising ideas, pilot test systems and programs, build awareness of the needs and potential of low-income communities, and advocate progressive social and economic policy. From this understanding, D2D seeks to influence financial decision making, a core element of any effort to save, spend prudently or use credit wisely.
MicroTest
www.microtest.org
MicroTest, a project of the Aspen Institute’s FIELD (Microenterprise Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, Learning and Dissemination) program, is a set of tools, protocols, support, and feedback that assist microenterprise development programs to measure, compare, and improve performance. MicroTest is the industry standard for measuring performance in the U.S. microenterprise development field. MicroTest documents and measures program activities and outcomes, and used this data to describe the field as a whole, and to provide critical benchmarking information that helps programs understand how they compare with their peers, with industry averages, with top performers, and with industry standards.
National Community Tax Coalition
www.tax-coalition.org
The National Community Tax Coalition (NCTC) is the nation's largest, most comprehensive membership organization for community-based organizations offering free tax and financial services to low-income working families. The more than 2,100 members of NCTC empower low-income workers to build a more secure financial future for themselves and families through innovative financial services. NCTC works with its members and partners in strengthening economies, building communities and improving lives through tax assistance and asset building activities that produce financial security, protect families and promote economic justice.
National Credit Union Foundation
www.ncuf.coop
The National Credit Foundation (NCUF) is the philanthropic and social responsibility leader of America’s credit union movement. NCUF raises funds, makes grants, manages programs and provides education empowering consumers to achieve financial independence through not-for-profit credit unions. Donations to NCUF enable credit unions to help their members reach life-changing goals. Through NCUF grants and programs, credit unions create greater access to affordable financial services, provide widespread financial education, and empower more consumers to save, build assets, and own homes.
NeighborWorks America
www.nw.org
NeighborWorks® America creates opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. Since 1991, we have assisted nearly 1.2 million low- to moderate-income families with their housing needs. Much of our success is achieved through our support of the NeighborWorks® network ― more than 230 community development organizations working in more than 4,400 urban, suburban and rural communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. NeighborWorks® America is also the nation’s leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals.
NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, Office of Financial Empowerment
www.nyc.gov/ofe
The Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) is the first local government initiative in the nation aimed expressly at educating, empowering, and protecting those with low incomes, so they can build assets and make the most of their financial resources. Among its various programs and initiatives, OFE coordinates the Mayor’s EITC Coalition and the Financial Education Network, a group of more than 70 financial education providers in the city. OFE has also launched pilot products with ten financial institutions to offer safe and affordable financial products and services to low-income New Yorkers. A cornerstone of OFE’s work is its research into both the needs and availability of products, services and programs to support New Yorkers move forward.
One Economy
www.one-economy.com
One Economy Corporation is a global nonprofit that uses innovative approaches to deliver the power of technology and information to low-income people, giving them valuable tools for building better lives. We help bring broadband into the homes of low-income people, employ youth to train their community members to use technology effectively, and provide public-purpose media properties that offer information for all audiences. The Beehive (www.thebeehive.org) is an award-winning, multilingual Web portal that provides low-income individuals web-based tools and information about financial services, education, jobs, health care, and family. Our mission is to maximize the potential of technology to help low-income people improve their lives and enter the economic mainstream.
San Antonio Department of Community Initiatives
www.sanantonio.gov/comminit
The Department of Community Initiatives (DCI) works to strengthen the San Antonio community through human services investments, resources, and partnerships that assist our low-income and marginalized residents to achieve self-sufficiency and economic empowerment. DCI’s Family Economic Success Program improves the quality of life by assisting San Antonio residents to become informed financial consumers through services that include the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), financial literacy, the Individual Development Account asset building program, and anti-predatory lending education. DCI also coordinates safety net services that strive to provide a safe, clean and decent home for everyone, access to services and food security.
The Access Project
www.accessproject.org
The Access Project (TAP) of Third Sector New England works to strengthen community action, promote social change, and improve health, especially for those who are most vulnerable. Accomplishments include exposing the problem of medical debt through community-based research and raising awareness of the issue, broadening the network of groups interested in health reform by linking health care costs to broader economic issues, and informing policy discussions at the local, state and federal level. The Access Project has established a Medical Debt Resolution Program that focuses on coaching individuals to help them to advocate on their own behalf with public programs, private insurers and medical providers.