U.S. Department of the Treasury

Community Overview:  Jacksonville, Florida is a rapidly growing city on Florida's Atlantic coast.  Its economy has been evolving from reliance on retail to embrace a sea port, and new economic development ventures.  However, many of the city's underserved neighborhoods are not positioned to benefit from these new developments, including the Northwest area of Jacksonville, a predominantly African-American community with close to 90,000 residents, and a poverty rate substantially higher than the rest of the city.  Strong financial literacy and financial services are critically needed to address this area's challenges to help the community take advantage of its growth potential, and encourage asset building among residents.  While there is a sound foundation present in this area, much still remains to be to done to create a financial literacy and banking services landscape that reflects the rest of the city.  Residents of the Northwest area are more likely than elsewhere in the community to use alternative financial service providers --approximately 70% of which are located in the low and moderate-income areas of the city. 

Strategy Overview:  The Jacksonville Community Financial Access Pilot is a collaborative of banks, credit unions, youth development organizations, faith-based organizations, credit counseling services, public agencies, federal agencies, educational organizations and others.  The goal is to move individuals and families out of poverty by creating access into the financial mainstream and increasing financial education, paying special attention to the residents living in the Northwest area.  The CFAP will work with existing service providers to expand financial services and education provided in low-income neighborhoods, especially "second chance" accounts.  University of Florida Cooperative Extension is leading the financial education effort by providing the "Get Checking" curriculum, and a number of financial institutions have committed to providing second chance accounts, in addition to leveraging other community asset building resources, including financial counseling and free tax preparation. 

Partner Organizations as of December 2008:

For more information contact: Sonia Klukas, Community Consultant at Sonia.Klukas@treasury.gov

Last Updated: January 22, 2009