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July 11, 2008Pew Partners with State and City Officials to Help Low- And Moderate- Income Households Secure Bank Accounts |
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The Safe Banking Opportunities Project is supporting a rapidly growing group of state and city governments that are launching campaigns to bring more Americans into the financial mainstream. The new programs, called "Bank On" initiatives, connect the "unbanked" ---households without bank accounts---to appropriate accounts that help lower their financial transaction costs and put them on the path to building savings and assets. One of the largest such initiatives is being launched in California this year, in partnership with the Pew project. "Pew is a key partner in our Bank On California initiative," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who announced earlier this year that California will be the first state in the country to launch a campaign to reach the unbanked. "This initiative will help working Californians without bank accounts open starter accounts, access basic financial services, and enter the financial mainstream." The Safe Banking Opportunities Project is supporting the Bank On initiatives by supplying cities and states with strategic advice and detailed data about local unbanked markets and the financial institutions that can and currently do serve these markets. "I congratulate Pew on its decision to invest in and build upon this practical and unique work from which cities around the country will benefit," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has been working with Safe Banking Opportunities project director, Matt Fellowes, to develop the city's financial services programs.
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