A Collaborative Effort Between Beth, Shawneil, Jenn, and Katie
Nearly half (45%) of all households in major American cities are financially vulnerable—without assets or adequate savings to cover basic expenses for even three months in the event of an emergency, such as a job loss or health crisis (Family Assets Count). The inability to bounce back from financial pitfalls is not only a detriment to families, but also to the economic growth of the cities in which they live. The mayor’s office has thrown its support behind Bank On Greater Pittsburgh (BOGP), a new initiative of the Urban League, in order to increase financial literacy within the city. Mayor Peduto has stated: “More than 10% of Pittsburgh residents have no bank account and another 19% rely heavily on risky alternative financial tools such as payday loans, check-cashing shops, and rent-to-own arrangements. This represents more than 130,000 households living without financial security.”
Vision for Success
The first question we wanted to address was the definition of a successful financial literacy program in Pittsburgh. BOGP has had some attention in the local press including CBS news interviews and podcasts with both the CEO of the Urban League, Esther Bush, and Howard Slaughter, Jr., chairman of the BOGP. Together, they have put together a long list of partners both in terms of financial institutions and community organizations with the initial goal of helping people get bank accounts.
Therefore, one quantitative measure of success could be lowering those unbanked rates. But we brainstormed some further areas in which BOGP may be able to innovate. They are well on their way to becoming the central resource when seeking financial help in which anyone can call and get advice or be directed to the right partner organization.
However, we also want to focus their resources on spearheading tailored solutions to the diverse neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. We are hypothesizing that citizens of different neighborhoods have different financial struggles and we want the resources available to them to be applicable to their situation. We found via http://assetsandopportunity.org/localdata/ that Allegheny county is actually doing better in terms of poverty asset rates and banking rates than many of the surrounding areas, so we hope to provide a tailorable model for other counties and cities in five years’ time.
We want to create an overall environment of fiscal responsibility and education in which the clients of BOGP feel 100% confident that they can meet at least one of their financial goals; they should not need to turn to financial institutions that only offer quick fixes or scams. Simply put, the goal is to help break the cycle of poverty in which citizens don’t feel crushed by a financial crisis and can help themselves get out of it. We are thinking of solutions both in terms of quick/easy versus the best solution and the tradeoffs that occur between the two. Researching budgets will be key in determining what is possible for BOGP to achieve.
Personas
In order to capture the wide variety of financial issues in Pittsburgh, we are targeting all people simply in need of a “Fresh Financial Start.” These may include, but are not limited to those: with high debt, coming out of the criminal justice system, supporting children, with health crises (chronic illness), starting a business, with a failed business, withpersonal bankruptcy, intimidated by established financial institutions, paying for school, newly divorced, buying a house, under-employed, and may encompass other social issues such as gambling addiction. This is the lens in which we decided to view the process of seeking help and began brainstorming innovative ways to connect community members with the resources that BOGP and others are providing.
Communication Design
We understand that the communication design of this service is integral to its impact and sustainability. Therefore, we have developed multiple approaches to initially connecting people with the service:
We are assuming that BOGP is willing to take the lead on becoming the central financial literacy institution for Pittsburgh community members.
They are already connected to several community and financial partners across town. It is important to note that, before BOGP, there were a few niche providers of financial and savings services, and no central chamber. These tend to serve a targeted group, such as women or public housing residents. Not all the community partners we’ve found across Pittsburgh are included in BOGP. Few of the community partners identified in BOGP have financial literacy as their primary service offering. At this time, we are speculating that there was not much funding for an initiative such as this one before the mayor’s support and the partnership with the United Way Impact Fund. Absent a central service, we believe that it was harder for a user to find where to go for support.
New Approach: Financial Services Community Meet-Ups
o These will be small group meet-ups run by a community liasion (volunteer from the space) and financial experts (ideally employed by BOPG) who will be a part of the community for an extended period of time
o This is an opportunity for the service to meet its users where they are, e.g. churches, schools, workplaces, community centers (LGBTQ), halfway houses (and institutions of incarceration)
o Moves away from technology and brings in the human interaction; trust-building between community and the service
o This is an opportunity for the users to become empowered by seeing others, like themselves, take the initiative to become financially literate; “Power in seeing other people getting help too”
Supplemental Approaches:
o Central Location – available space for call center, special appointments, extra workshops, and for financial/community partners to share ideas. In the past, there has been a tangle of organizations providing similar services which needs to be streamlined.
o Call-line – promise to immediately connect callers to the resources they need. As is, Bush and Slaughter have stated that they will bring a call-line to BOGP, but this has not yet been realized.
o Website – make sure BOGP website is clear and easy to use for those who are computer literate; it should be the first thing that comes up when searching for financial help in Pittsburgh. We are also recommending to remove prohibitive language from the site.
Primary Publicity: Newsletters and Bulletins (community, church, hospitals, schools, legal system (e.g. bankruptcy filings, monetary related crimes); TV & Radio ads
Things to take into account:
o Labor Cost associated with each communication and awareness channel
o The budget for such a service
o The budget constraints of such a service
Pilot Program
We are envisioning a pilot model in one neighborhood that we can evaluate the success of before scaling to other neighborhoods. For our initial neighborhood, we are weighing the pros/cons of choosing an established neighborhood (East Liberty) versus a gentrifying one that has received recent support, attention, and funding (Lawrenceville). We will be conducting interviews in the coming week(s) in the chosen neighborhood to have a better understanding of the demographics there so that we can tailor the offerings as appropriate. We will be speaking to members that meet our profile in that geographic region that would belong to one of our centers of the proposed financial meet-up.
It will be important to determine how many full-time subject matter expert caseworkers are needed in this neighborhood (e.g. one debt specialist, one education specialist, one small business specialist) to determine a sustainable, individual caseload, in addition to who can be supported by the budget. This subject matter expert will really “own” this area and be the caseworker who handles all people that fall within the scope of this subject. Of course not all cases will be clear-cut, and subject matter experts will have to get up to speed about some of their client’s adjacent issues.
Regarding caseload, we like the idea of having one consistent face for each “client:” you would be introduced to this subject matter expert at the meet-up and then follow-up with that same subject matter expert for as long as necessary. We are considering an “HMO” model, whereby a specialist focuses on areas that can be covered in 0-3 sessions, while those that have more complex issues will be referred to a longer-term specialist. This way we can have the primary specialists rotate through the same community centers introducing themselves to new clients and being able to welcome and follow-up with a steady stream. They are intended to be the first faces that a client gets to know.
After the introduction to the caseworker at the financial meetup, the caseworker will follow up with the client in 1-2 weeks, capturing more specific information about themselves, and recording it, including personal history and specific financial issues. Afterwards, one-on-one counseling sessions will be planned for a certain date and time. This could be a meeting at the center office, or even have the caseworker meet them at a place of their choosing. If neither of those are an option, a phone conversation will be scheduled. It is up to the caseworker to determine how many sessions are optimal; towards the end of the session, it is also the caseworker’s responsibility to capture data about the client’s progress towards his/her goals, in a standardized format. This is for the purposes of internal review, monitoring, and evaluation. These questions may mirror some of the questions made during the first follow-up call, including: how close do you feel to meeting your financial goals? what bank accounts do you currently have? what does your budget look like? on a scale of 1-7, what is your knowledge of options to handle debt?
In addition to subject matter experts, we will be relying on one community liaison volunteer per meet-up center to serve as host/hostess.
After executing this pilot model, we would like to review what worked and what didn’t, before right-sizing the financial literacy program for a different neighborhood, including choosing financial meet-up locations, staff hires, and determining the subject matter of specific services offered.
Appendix A: Proposed Timeline
Appendix B: Sample Research
Design and Policy 