Invest In Girls Worcester receives financial empowerment support

Thirteen nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts will receive much needed funds to help those they serve make informed financial decisions through a set of grants announced by Citizens today. Under the bank’s Citizens Helping Citizens Manage Money program, these nonprofits will receive a total of more than $485,000 to support work in this critical area across the state.

As part of the Citizens Helping Citizens Manage Money program, the bank this year will provide $1.5 million in contributions to more than 105 nonprofits in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York. The initiative helps the community by supporting programs that give people the confidence and tools they need to budget, save, invest, be financially healthy and inspire them to pursue their goals.

“We believe that having strong financial knowledge is essential in achieving your goals and reaching financial security,” said Jerry Sargent, President, Citizens, Massachusetts. “Through Citizens Helping Citizens Manage Money we provide members of our communities with the knowledge, confidence and resources they need to make smart financial decisions that will put them on a path forward.”

This years’ funding recipients in Massachusetts, include:

• Camp Harbor View – for its Leaders in Training program, which provides financial education, civic engagement, career exploration and more to teens from historically under-resourced communities and their families.
• The Children's Museum ­– for its Money Matters financial literacy program, which positively introduces topics around money, saving, and spending to children and families through a variety of fun, welcoming activities.
• Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts – for their Community Engagement Initiative, Citizens will help girls from historically under-resourced communities access the financial literacy skills provided through the Cookie Program: Goal Setting, Decision Making, Money Management, People Skills, and Business Ethics.
• Economic Empowerment Trust Fund – for its economic justice programming to help women attain economic mobility and improve financial wellbeing.
• Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance – for its financial education for first-generation homebuyers, including one-on-one counseling around credit building, savings, fair housing and other topics.
• Neighborhood of Affordable Housing – for its education for LMI residents around personal finance, first-time homebuying, and foreclosure prevention and mitigation.
• Urban Edge Housing Corporation – for its first-time homebuyer courses, credit building bootcamps, and foreclosure counseling for LMI residents.
• Way Finders, Inc. – for its multi-tiered financial education program to help LMI clients achieve financial health and independence, including, for some, homeownership.
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC Boston) – for its LISC Pitch Contest, which provides a platform for local entrepreneurs to deliver their business pitch for a chance to win prize money, access expertise from business support organizations, and build credit and financial acumen.
• United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley – for the Financial Empowerment Learning Institute, a program that trains direct service staff from agencies across the region on an array of financial empowerment topics.
• Council for Economic Education – for its Invest In Girls Worcester program, which teaches financial literacy concepts to high school girls and provides access to a financial education that allows girls to make smart personal financial decisions, pursue financial careers, and become active community participants.

As recent research suggests, many Americans are worried about achieving their economic and financial goals. Annually, Citizens and Junior Achievement USA host a national survey to identify the financial challenges facing teens. This years’ results showed that COVID-19 has significantly impacted how teens are thinking about their financial futures, prompting 25 percent of them to delay their college plans in the face of reduced financial support from parents and guardians because of the pandemic. The findings, which indicate broad-based concern among teens regarding how they will pay for higher education, highlight an increased need for financial literacy educational resources to assist them in making financial decisions that impact them over the long term.

For additional information on Citizens Helping Citizens Manage Money, visit Citizens’ website.