EARN Joins Forces with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and HelloWallet to Boost City’s Financial Fitness

Groundbreaking Public-Private Partnership to Provide Independent Financial Guidance To Low-Wage Workers Kicks Off With City Hall Event on Tuesday, March 9

New EARN White Paper on Financial Coaching Published and Presented

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EARN, the nation’s leading provider of matched savings accounts for low-income workers, has joined forces with Mayor Gavin Newsom and HelloWallet, the newly launched online independent financial guidance service, to improve the financial fitness of San Francisco residents.

“Advancing Financial Coaching for Low-Income Populations: Midstream Lessons from EARN.”

In a groundbreaking public-private partnership announced today at an event held at City Hall, EARN CEO Ben Mangan, Mayor Newsom and Matt Fellowes, Founder and CEO of HelloWallet, provided details about the program. Through this major initiative, San Francisco will become the first city in the nation to deploy HelloWallet, a revolutionary online financial guidance and management tool, with training provided by EARN. Other program participants include the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Pacific Gas & Electric, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, The Laborers and Levi Strauss Foundation.

“EARN, HelloWallet and San Francisco share a common objective: to empower individuals to take better control of their finances by providing the very best financial guidance and management tools,” said Mayor Newsom. “We are very excited about undertaking this program to help make San Francisco the nation’s most financially fit city.”

2,500 free subscriptions to HelloWallet—an online service that offers unbiased financial services advice based on individual user profile—will be provided to low-income San Francisco residents. After this initial allotment of subscriptions is distributed, HelloWallet has pledged to contribute one complimentary subscription for every five subscribers from San Francisco. EARN will work with HelloWallet to help identify community groups and non-profits, which EARN will convene and train on how to use HelloWallet so low-income families can make the most of these free subscriptions.

EARN Issues Financial Coaching White Paper

Coinciding with this program launch, today EARN issued a white paper entitled, “Advancing Financial Coaching for Low-Income Populations: Midstream Lessons from EARN.”

EARN is currently America’s only non-profit that employs a full-time financial coach directly serving clients, while also training the staff of other non-profits in financial coaching. In 2007, EARN developed a groundbreaking program using financial coaching to focus exclusively on helping low-wage clients improve financial behaviors over time. The white paper, written by EARN CEO Ben Mangan, distills much of this material, offers best practices and explores how financial coaching is anchored in behavioral change rather than a simple transfer of information about finances.

“As the economy continues to roil, and recession feels like depression for tens of millions of low-income workers, financial coaching has emerged as a tool with great promise to create prosperity for low-income Americans,” the paper begins. “The rapid growth of this still undefined field presents tremendous opportunities, but also real risks for low-income recipients of coaching, the nonprofit organizations interested in coaching, and the funders making coaching work possible.”

The white paper—which describes how financial coaching is distinct from financial planning and also provides recommendations for practitioners—is available for download on EARN’s website at www.earn.org/coachingbrief.

“HelloWallet and EARN share a common vision to democratize access to financial guidance to all Americans,” said Mr. Fellowes, a former Brookings Institution consumer finance scholar. “We are pleased to partner with EARN as they empower people to escape the cycle of poverty by giving them the tools and resources to create financial stability.”

“EARN is delighted to partner with HelloWallet and the City of San Francisco on this exciting new program,” said Mr. Mangan. “It is especially fitting that the release of our financial coaching white paper coincides with the launch of this groundbreaking public-private initiative. We anticipate that this program will be a huge success for the residents of San Francisco, and we also look forward to continuing to develop and share our proprietary data, research briefings and white papers.”

About HelloWallet

HelloWallet is the most powerful online, independent financial guidance service in the United States. Its members are provided with customized financial plans, 24/7 personal money management and monitoring, and an individualized bank shopper service, which looks at over 50,000 different financial products to find better prices for its members. HelloWallet also proactively identifies financial health threats and savings opportunities for its members, helping them avoid costly financial missteps and make sustainable improvements in their financial health.

HelloWallet is available directly to consumers as well as through its institutional partners, which collectively represent over 3.5 million people. Its commitment to democratize access to trustworthy, sophisticated financial guidance has been widely honored, including at the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2009 Annual Meeting. For more information, visit www.hellowallet.com and twitter.com/hellowallet.

About EARN

EARN is an award-winning California-based nonprofit that gives low-income workers the power to create economic prosperity for their families for generations to come. Since 2001, EARN has helped tens of thousands of low-wage families through innovative financial products including matched savings accounts, checking accounts for the unbanked, micro-loans, and money management coaching. EARN’s powerful combination of lasting assets and financial know-how enables families to build wealth and achieve life-changing goals such as saving for college, purchasing first homes, or starting small businesses. Through its policy and research arm, EARN evaluates its impact and reports on new data regularly, sharing lessons learned and best practices in order to transform the financial services landscape and to champion effective public policies. EARN’s ultimate vision is that millions of well-informed, low-income American families will achieve financial success through proven strategies, fair public policy, and their own hard work. Visit www.earn.org or follow us on http://twitter.com/EarnOrg.

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