innovative
public-private partnership to bank the unbanked called Bank on San
Francisco, launched in 2006 and is currently being replicated by more
than 70 cities and states nationwide. In early 2010, the US Department of
the Treasury announced the creation of a national Bank on USA initiative,
based on the San Francisco model and supported by $50 million in federal
funds.
In 2009, San
Francisco became one of only three cities in the country to launch a
municipal Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE), housed within the
Treasurer’s Office. The first major new initiative of the OFE is the
recently announced “Kindergarten to College” program, the first universal
matched Children’s Savings Account program in a public school system in the
country.
To further
this work on a national level, San Francisco joined with New York City to
create Cities for Financial Empowerment in 2007 and partnered with the
National League of Cities to launch a national Bank On resource and
networking online portal, joinbankon.org,
in 2010.
