Alameda County CAN has two initial projects that are supported by our Policy and Systems Reform efforts: the Financial Counseling Toolkit and the Banking Menu.
The Financial Counseling Toolkit
The Financial Counseling Toolkit is a financial education and counseling project that will create a county-wide system for the provision of financial counseling services by collecting and distributing tools, including shared intake, referral, and outcome forms that leverage our collective resources. The Toolkit will include an online resource and referral database designed for use in these efforts. We seek to provide clients and practitioners with the most complete toolkit, while practicing our belief that the most successful financial counseling is based on relationships and services along the income and asset building continuum. The first phase of our work is an online financial counseling directory.
The Banking Menu
The Banking Menu is a banking/savings project to create and provide appropriate financial services to unbanked and under-banked residents. The project will go beyond other financial product efforts by recognizing that people have different financial needs and skill levels. Our project will develop an assessment tool to determine people’s financial product needs, readiness and preferences (including cultural), and will provide a menu of options, all based on lessons from the financial counseling work. The Menu will include a pre-paid debit card, a banking program to open and sustain transactional accounts, and asset building components through a savings and planning project.
Policy & System Reform
In addition we recognize that policy and systems change are critical to realizing our mission and members share a commitment to working on those efforts together. Also, Alameda County CAN serves as a clearinghouse for information on income and asset development work countywide, offering networking and information sharing activities.