CO-lAUNCHERS AND COALITION LEADS
| Kathy Matthews, Enterprise Community Partners Coalition Lead & Co-Launcher | LinkedIn Profile [email protected] |
| Matt Brady, City of Cleveland Coalition Lead | LinkedIn Profile [email protected] |
| Aaron Kinney, City of Cleveland Coalition Lead | LinkedIn Profile [email protected] |
| Aisha Weeks, City of Cleveland Co-Launcher |
OUR MISSION
At Bank On CLE, we believe our efforts towards a more equitable financial system must include racial equity at the forefront of our work. We seek to unite people and organizations around a collective mission: to dismantle barriers to financial and economic mobility.
Our members offer services and educational resources that help empower people and families to improve their financial capability, health, and independence.
It is important that residents have access to resources that help lay a solid foundation for banking and financial empowerment. Our coalition is particularly focused on assisting young adults, individuals participating in job training programs, residents of affordable housing, and families with school age children that seek access to financial services.
OUR HISTORY
Started in 2021, Bank On CLE helps connect consumers to safe and affordable banking products certified as meeting the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund’s (CFE Fund’s) Bank On National Account Standards. With assistance from the CFE Fund, the City of Cleveland, Enterprise Community Partners, and local stakeholders from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors formed a Bank On working group in early 2020 to identify strategies to increase collaborative efforts that could connect consumers to mainstream financial services and products.
Members represent community-based organizations, financial institutions and local government agencies that provide services and resources such as financial education, credit counseling, savings programs, banking series, credit repair, employment assistance, youth engagement and other financial empowerment programming.
THE BANK ON MOVEMENT
Bank On CLE is proud to be part of the national Bank On movement, made up of 100+ local, regional, and state coalitions across the country.
Bank On coalitions are locally-led partnerships between local public officials; city, state, and federal government agencies; financial institutions; and community organizations that work together to help improve the financial stability of unbanked and underbanked individuals and families in their communities. In addition to connecting people to safe and affordable accounts, Bank On coalitions also work to raise public awareness, target outreach to the unbanked, and expand access to financial education.
The nonprofit Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) is the national partner for local Bank On coalitions. The CFE Fund’s Bank On national initiative builds on this grassroots movement, supporting local coalitions with strategic and financial support, as well as by liaising nationally with banking, regulatory, and nonprofit organization partners to expand banking access.