Nashville Receives $2 Million Grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Living Cities’ Fund to Help Low-Income Residents Reduce Debt, Build Assets

Nashville One of Five Cities Selected for $16.2 Million Investment

NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Nashville has been selected as one of five cities to receive a grant to help low-income residents reduce debt and build assets through free, one-on-one financial counseling incorporated into existing services offered in the city. The Office of Mayor Karl Dean and United Way of Metropolitan Nashville are partners in the grant funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and Living Cities’ Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund.

The three-year grant will serve an estimated 5,000 Nashvillians at Financial Empowerment Centers, which will be run by United Way of Metropolitan Nashville. At the Centers, financial counselors will teach clients how to open safe and affordable checking accounts, establish a credit score, maintain a positive balance, decrease debt and maintain savings.

“These Financial Empowerment Centers will play a vital role in helping Nashville families move from poverty to financial stability,” Dean said. “Making sure individuals and families get personalized financial literacy services will help us build stronger families and a stronger community.”

The Financial Empowerment Center initiative is the latest investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Project, the government innovation program which seeks to spread proven and promising ideas among cities. Through a $16.2 million investment in Living Cities' CFE Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies will provide grants to Nashville, along with Denver, Colo.; Lansing, Mich.; Philadelphia, Pa; and San Antonio, Texas, and enable extensive technical assistance to help each city replicate and customize the model.

“The City of Nashville has demonstrated a real desire to help families achieve long-term financial stability,” said New York City Mayor and philanthropist Michael R. Bloomberg. “The Mayors Project at Bloomberg Philanthropies spreads effective solutions to challenges that cities across the country are facing. We hope through this grant that the effective Financial Empowerment Center model will create measurable change for low-income residents in Nashville.”

The Financial Empowerment Centers, opening in March 2013, will be located at the Levy Place Center in east Nashville and in south Nashville at the Casa Azafran Community Center, which serves as the headquarters of Conexion Americas and other organizations that offer educational opportunities, health and wellness services and entrepreneurship training.

Satellite locations will be housed at United Way’s 18 Family Resource Centers, Metro Action Commission, Metro Social Services and state offices that provide welfare benefits through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program.