Equity and Inclusion in Action
2023 Impact Report
Fostering Economic Mobility
Empowering families and individuals to achieve long-term, sustained financial well-being and build generational wealth.
Equity and Inclusion in Action
2023 Impact Report
fostering economic opportunity
Empowering families and individuals to achieve long-term, sustained financial well-being and build generational wealth.
Dollars of Savings Built
Residents Served
Dollars of Debt Reduced
Newly-Opened Bank Accounts
Credit Scores Improved by 35 Points or More
Fund My Future PGH reaches 5,000 families, celebrates 10 years of innovative programming
Since 2013, Fund My Future PGH has been helping families in Allegheny County start their savings journey, build healthy lifelong savings habits, and realize the expectations they have for their children. By providing access to a monthly prize pool of $2,000, as well as supportive personal assistance and reminders to save, children from birth to age 18 are given a jump-start toward their future.
2023 marked a milestone year for Fund My Future PGH – 10 years of programming and 5,000 families enrolled across Allegheny County!
The success of this program can, in part, be attributed to its grassroots outreach strategies – in 2023 alone, we attended or organized 66 community events and enrolled 525 new participants! That’s more than one event and an average of 10 new participants enrolled every single week.
Anyone can enroll, even if they don’t yet have a savings account for their child. Toni offers hands-on assistance, guiding folks to safe, affordable bank accounts through our connections to trusted local and national financial institutions. If participants are already saving when they sign up, we offer reminders to save and encourage automatic deposits. By saving even just $1 a month, every month, participants are eligible to win our raffle.
Fund My Future also boasts strong and plentiful partnerships. Over the years, they have garnered approximately 200 community partners, including financial institutions, schools, and other nonprofit organizations. These partners help us to reach as many families as possible.
Since moving permanently to Neighborhood Allies in early 2021 from its first home at Propel Schools, Fund My Future PGH has helped us fulfill our mission and work towards our North Star Goal to move 100,000 Pittsburghers up the socio-economic ladder every day. Integrating this program into our portfolio of Economic Opportunity Initiatives has allowed us to serve our communities more holistically. Likewise, the families enrolled in Fund My Future PGH can now easily be connected to other Neighborhood Allies resources – such as access to financial counseling through the Allegheny County Financial Empowerment Center.
“Many women find talking about money and investing scary. However, with Money Talks, we provided a financial roadmap for women to build generational wealth, diminishing the fear and stigma of financial institutions and investing. I often say, ‘Your financial future will be brighter than your past.’ It was from the first day these ladies signed up for Money Talks, by investing in themselves, that their future started looking up.”
How We Help Foster Economic Opportunity
Wealth Building and Financial Improvement Programs:
Financial Empowerment Center
The Pittsburgh Financial Empowerment Center (FEC), in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh and Advantage Credit Counseling, offers free, professional, one-on-one financial counseling to individuals and families looking to address their financial challenges and plan for their futures. The FEC provides financial counseling sessions to assist with credit, debt, savings, and/or banking, for individuals or couples, either by phone or video, or in-person at a number of locations around the county. Translation services are also available.
Fund My Future PGH
Fund My Future (FMF) helps families start their savings journey, building hope and a healthy lifelong savings habit by helping families save for college and other post-secondary goals. We host a monthly prize pool of $2,000, as well as supportive personal assistance in account opening and regular reminders to save. We also give informational sessions to parents and grandparents with our community partners, promoting complementary programs for families such as PA529 accounts, PA ABLE accounts, and Keystone Scholars. We are available to attend in-person community events to share the program with families.
Money Talks
Money Talks is a virtual community made up of Black women of various backgrounds and life stages who meet regularly to engage, share with each other, and learn from experts about saving and investing. The goal of Money Talks to reduce barriers that women of color face in building generational wealth, by increasing their knowledge and confidence in money management and investing. This support is offered through an interactive learning platform that includes optional live training sessions or self-paced video courses.
Bank On Allegheny County Coalition
In Allegheny County, nearly 30% of residents are unbanked or underbanked. Access to a basic transaction account is an important first step in participating in the financial mainstream – depositing earnings securely, paying bills efficiently, accessing credit, and saving. 90 Bank On coalitions around the country work to connect everyone to safe, affordable, and appropriate financial products and services – including Bank On Allegheny County. We are a collaboration between financial institutions, community-based organizations and local government to ensure that all residents have the opportunity to be financially healthy. Our members also offer services and educational resources that help empower people and families to improve their financial capability, health and independence.
Youth Financial Capability
In the absence of school-based financial education, our Youth Financial Capability work provides high-quality, relevant resources and access to appropriate accounts to children and youth that increase their financial capability. We provide bank account access and financial education to children and youth at critical points of openness to new knowledge. Offered outside the classroom, these resources are contextualized to real life situations, such as teens starting their first jobs who are eager to open their own bank accounts, or children acquiring a new digital skill playing an interactive game that teaches about smart spending.
Asset Building Network
We created the Asset Building Network in 2016 to address the significant inequities that persist, particularly for people of color and low-and moderate-income people in Pittsburgh. The 40+ organization network is a collaborative community for learning and advocacy to coordinate local resources and strengthen program and policy efforts to increase economic opportunity for all.
Coalition On Race, Ethnicity, Poverty, and Disability
Since 2019, we have worked with the National Disability Institute to convene practitioners in both the financial services and disability services fields, helping to host large-scale convenings, trainings, and work group sessions on the topic of financial stability for people with disabilities.
Digital Inclusion and Equity Programs:
Level Up 412
Level Up 412 is an equitable-access initiative devoted to providing educational opportunities and coursework to those interested in careers in the tech industry. Created by Neighborhood Allies, funded by Verizon, we work in partnership with respected regional partners committed to bridging the digital divide, providing STEM learning to all ages and populations. Through our programming, we offer the tools, resources, and encouragement for all of our scholars to pursue fulfilling career opportunities in the growing tech industry.
Beyond the Laptops
Beyond the Laptops began in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Families and workers were expected to complete school and jobs remotely. Yet tens of thousands of students in our community didn’t have access to the devices or the connectivity required to successfully participate in the education of the 21st century. Along with many partners, we responded to the crisis by supplying over one thousand devices across Pittsburgh. That was followed by the sponsorship of 1000 internet accounts through Pittsburgh Public Schools.
Mental Health Programs:
Steel Smiling
Through our Organization-in-Residence, Steel Smiling, we are able to add mental health services to our program offerings. Steel Smiling is an entry point and a connector for local Black people to participate in mental health education and trainings, explore workforce development opportunities within the mental health field, and access a variety of supports for individual healing and mental wellness. Steel Smiling provides a variety of mental health-focused programming to Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Black community including Beams to Bridges and the Black Mental Health Fund.
Neighborhood Allies
429 Fourth Avenue, Suite 1900
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
412.471.3727
www.neighborhoodallies.org info@neighborhoodallies.org