Center for Working Families Leadership Conference

1. Center for Working FamiliesLeadership Conference December 6 & 7 Chicago, Illinois

2. Low-income families face tough challenges in making ends meet and in moving up • One in four working American families is low income and struggling financially • Many families are working hard but have low wages, limited benefits and minimal advancement opportunities • Low income families lack supports, pay more for services and are short on time

3. The Center for Working Families is a new approach to help low-income families • CWFs provide multiple services to help families become financially secure and successful • CWFs provide the service that people need at a point in time and then connect them to more services over time • At CWFs, families access multiple services • Employment and career advancement services • Work supports and income enhancements • Financial tools and wealth building services

4. CWFs can make a real financial difference for families Joan Smith a Bon Secours participant with 2 children (2004-2006) • Became steady worker earning $20,600 • 2005 tax refund: $3,000 EITC, $1,400 Child Tax Credit • Reduced debt from $3900 to $0 • Credit score rose from 488 to 525 • $800 in savings

5. CWFs provide families with services within and across 3 areas

6. Successful CWFs apply these operating principles • Core services are intentionally bundled • CWF services generate results • Staff create trusting relationships and act as motivators, integrators and connectors • Technology facilitates bundling and empowers staff and participants

7. CWFs operate in a variety of settings • CWFs are located within: • Neighborhood organizations • Workforce providers • Community colleges • Multi-family housing developments • CWFs have different structures: • Lead organization with partners • Hub and spoke for a citywide approach • CWFs work with different populations • Unemployed • Underemployed • College students combining work and school

8. CWFs can make a difference for families, communities, and partner organizations • For families: Increases earnings, income, and savings while reducing high cost financial transactions • For communities: With more adults working and building assets -- communities become better places to live for kids and families • For partners: Services and products are delivered more efficiently and get better results

9. CWF participants often start with one service but access multiple services over time Credit repair and debt reduction Workforce assessment Free tax prep New job placement Career counseling Help in setting up savings account and savings plan Saving for long term goal Work supports screening Job readiness and placement Skill enhancement Home ownership counseling Begin 1 Yr 2 Yr 3+ Yrs

10. CWFs succeed through partnerships • CWFs are too difficult and expensive for a single organizations to go it alone • Both the public and private sector have important roles • A lead organization can play an important role by: • organizing technical assistance • managing data and accountability • forging partnerships • building a citywide network

11. Early Results of CWF 21 Individuals bought a home 400 Individuals save regularly 1,300 Individuals became employed with many receiving work supports 3,000 Individuals receive more intensive and bundled services 25,000 Individuals – Reached through Employment and Tax Prep services

12. Stages Toward Becoming A CWF Center for Working Families (CWF) Stage 4: Have you formalized the bundling of services, implemented tracking across programs, and have potential for scale Stage 3 Are you beginning to bundle employment, work supports and wealth building services? Stage 2 Are you achieving high quality outcomes and building partnerships? Stage 1 Do you have these services in place--Employment, Work Supports, Wealth Building Are they accessible? Are you tracking outcomes?

13. Communities interested in CWF should assess organizational and leadership resources • Partner organizations are trusted by communities they serve and have lots of foot traffic • Lead organizations have capacity to form and manage partnerships • Local funders are willing to provide flexible dollars • There is an entrepreneur individual/organization to take lead

14. For an organization or network that has most CWFservices available; add-on costs might include: • $5,000 to $10,000 for IT costs to enhance client tracking systems • $50,000 per organization to add new staff in financial or employment services • $10,000 to $25,000 to train staff in coaching techniques • $75,000 to $100,000 for an intermediary to support a network of CBOs -- data collection, analysis, peer learning, building partnerships with financial institutions, fund-raising, etc. • $200,000 for a community-wide, web-based public benefits access tool

15. Investors are supporting CWF in a variety of ways • Investments to date are: • Testing the approach in a wide range of sites • Building capacity and developing new products • Evaluating results • Demand in the field for further investments: • Building out elements of CWF • Growing CWFs in existing cities • Making product innovations available & accessible to more communities • Creating a peer learning community • Establishing standards and a credentialing process