Explanation
BACKGROUND
This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department Development to enter into a non-profit service contract with Jewish Family Services, a non-profit corporation, in an amount up to $500,000.00 for the Columbus Financial Empowerment Center and to authorize the payment of expenses starting January 1, 2024.
In 2021, in partnership with the City of Columbus, Jewish Family Services launched the Columbus Financial Empowerment Center. This program started with a grant award in 2021 from Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund). It was a 2 year start up matching grant that helped establish the program in the community. After the matching grant funds and 2 year period ended, the City will fund the program to continue to offer this critical service free of charge to the residents.
Financial stability is a social determinant of health, and according to the Urban Institute, 57% of Columbus families are financially insecure with less than $2,000.00 in savings, higher than the national average. According to that same study, 43% of Columbus residents hold delinquent debt, much higher than the national average of 34%.
The Financial Empowerment Center offers free one-on-one financial counseling as a public service for all Central Ohio residents. The financial counselors are trained and certified by the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund to help navigate complex financial challenges and reach financial goals.
Jewish Family Services serves as the Financial Counseling Provider to provide free, professional, one on one financial counseling services to Columbus residents as a municipal service. The funding provided will be used to retain three (3) financial counselors and one (1) program manager employed by Jewish Family Services for the provision of financial counseling services. The funding will also support marketing services and supplies to raise public awareness of the availability of these free financial counseling services. Th...
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