Initiative Will Boost Financial Inclusion and
Economic Opportunity for People with Disabilities with Municipal
Offices of New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San
Francisco
Today, Citi Community Development, the NYC Mayor’s Office for
People with Disabilities, and municipal leaders from Boston,
Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco announced the expansion of
Empowered Cities, a landmark initiative launched in 2017 to
advance financial inclusion and economic opportunity for
lower-income people with disabilities. Citi’s $2 million,
multi-city commitment will expand the initiative’s existing focus
to include housing and employment for financially vulnerable
households in the disability community, building on the partnership
with National Disability Institute (NDI) focused on financial
capability.
Individuals with disabilities and their families are one of the
most underserved and financially vulnerable groups in the country.
There are 61 million people with a disability in the United States.
More than a quarter of people with a disability are living below
the poverty level; only 37 percent are employed, compared to 79
percent of those without disabilities, and half of those who are
working earn less than $25,000 per year. Moreover, according to
research by NDI, many individuals with disabilities have difficulty
managing household finances and navigating the complexities of
benefits, insurance, medical costs, and long-term supports while
still preparing for retirement. Approximately one in four U.S.
households with a person with a disability pay more than 50% of
their income on housing.
“The intersections between housing, employment, and financial
empowerment for people with disabilities is a critical component to
making sure that policies best serve their needs,” said
Commissioner Victor Calise of the New York City Mayor’s Office
for People with Disabilities. “This new initiative will lead to
research and best practices that will greatly improve our
understanding of how to deliver quality and accessible services to
the disability community. The New York City MOPD thanks Citi for
their collaboration and looks forward to working with them and the
other municipalities to advance the disability policy conversations
on a national level.”
Citi’s renewed support of Empowered Cities, which builds on its
original $2MM investment with founding financial capability
partner, National Disability Institute, and the City of New York to
develop and launch the initiative, will further catalyze municipal
efforts to advance economic opportunities for people with
disabilities. Each participating city will design a “Roadmap to
Economic Inclusion”, with technical expertise and guidance from
National Disability Institute and other partners, which will
include a landscape analysis of existing capacity, assets, and gaps
across housing, employment, and financial empowerment for people
with disabilities. The Roadmaps will recommend opportunities and
solutions that each municipality can lead. In addition, program
collaborators will also organize and participate in national
convenings to share best practices, and inform policy and advocacy
efforts.
“The financial needs and challenges of people with disabilities
are complex and interconnected, requiring research-based solutions
that traverse housing, employment and overall financial
capability,” said Bob Annibale, Global Director, Citi Community
Development and Inclusive Finance. “This expansion of Empowered
Cities will equip more municipalities to provide the specialized,
holistic support that individuals with disabilities and their
families need to build more secure financial futures.”
Empowered Cities has four key principles:
- Led by people with disabilities. Founding municipal
leaders will launch a steering committee to lead the expansion of
Empowered Cities.
- Fosters locally responsive solutions. Each “Roadmap to
Economic Inclusion” will be responsive and tailored to meet each
city’s needs and priorities.
- Catalyzes new resources. Citi will provide seed funding
to jumpstart investment in municipal solutions for people with
disabilities.
- Elevates the collective influence, work and voice of local
leaders. Municipal disability leaders will bring their
perspectives to ongoing national conversations about financial
empowerment, employment, and access to affordable and accessible
housing.
The expanded Empowered Cities program is based on learnings from
a convening in New York City held this spring, where—for the first
time—commissioners from 10 mayoral offices and disabilities-focused
leaders gathered in person. Led by the NYC Mayor’s Office for
People with Disabilities and hosted by National Disability
Institute, with support and participation from Citi, the convening
explored how to harness the diverse expertise and efforts underway
to take on the most-pressing financial security issues facing the
disability community.
“People with disabilities have gained increased opportunities
for independent living in the 30 years since the ADA was passed.
However, financial stability and security still remain out of reach
for so many,” said Kristen McCosh, Disability Commissioner &
ADA Title II Coordinator, Mayor’s Commission for Persons with
Disabilities, City of Boston. “We are thrilled to collaborate
with Citi in this effort to expand economic opportunities for our
residents with disabilities by providing the tools and training
they need to achieve success. This will expand on the City of
Boston’s current work with NDI on financial empowerment by adding
an intentional focus on the complex economic issues that people
with disabilities often face.”
“We are looking forward to working with Citi to continue
creating the conditions and pathways to financially empower our
residents with disabilities," said Chicago Mayor's Office for
People with Disabilities Commissioner Karen Tamley. "This
initiative aligns with the City's efforts to lift up the economic
conditions of all Chicagoans especially those who have been
historically underserved."
“The City of Los Angeles has long recognized that people with
disabilities and their families are fully capable of setting and
achieving financial goals, particularly when supported with
well-developed financial empowerment programs,” said Stephen
Simon, Executive Director, and City of Los Angeles
Department on Disability. “Through this initiative, the City of
Los Angeles, our partner cities, and Citi will develop regionally
tailored programs to leverage the resiliency and tenacity of our
communities to overcome barriers that often times unnecessarily
limit their ability to secure family sustaining employment, to earn
income, and to invest wisely.”
“We look forward to connecting San Franciscans in the coming
months to explore the opportunities Empowered Cities could provide
for our residents with disabilities,” said Nicole Bohn,
Director, Mayor’s Office on Disability, City of San
Francisco.
"As we approach 30 years since the signing of the Americans with
Disabilities Act, the greatest challenges that still remain for
people with disabilities in cities nationwide are financial
instability, overwhelming unemployment, and lack of safe and
affordable accessible housing,” said Michael Morris, Executive
Director, National Disability Institute. "This new set of
partnerships will foster innovative thinking and action to create a
new set of solutions to improve the financial health and well-being
of residents with disabilities in these founding cities with
replication potential nationwide.”
The national expansion of EmpoweredCities builds on the first
municipal model, EmpoweredNYC. The program launched in
January 2018 with an initial $2 million seed investment from Citi
Community Development to support the City of New York and National
Disability Institute to test municipally led strategies to advance
financial inclusion for people with disabilities and improve the
financial stability of New Yorkers with disabilities and their
families. Led by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker
Protection Office of Financial Empowerment, to date EmpoweredNYC
has engaged nearly 500 New Yorkers in more than 875 financial
counseling sessions to improve their financial stability.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million
customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and
jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments
and institutions with a broad range of financial products and
services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and
investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and
wealth management.
Additional information may be found at
http://citicommunitydevelopment.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube:
www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citi.com | Facebook:
www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi
About the NYC Mayor’s Office for People with
Disabilities
The NYC Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD), in
operation since 1972, works to ensure that New Yorkers with
disabilities can lead happy, healthy and productive lives and works
hand-in-hand with other City offices and over 50 agencies to ensure
that the voice of the disabled community is represented and that
City programs and policies address the needs of the nearly one
million New Yorkers with disabilities and the 6.8 million people
with disabilities visiting New York City every year. In addition,
the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities works with
organizations on specific issues affecting people with
disabilities, and aims to bring about dialogue that leads to
meaningful outcomes for those living with disabilities. MOPD’s
strives to make NYC the most accessible city in the world. For more
information about MOPD, call 311, visit nyc.gov/mopd, or find it on
social media, Twitter or Facebook.
About the Boston Mayor’s Commission for Persons with
Disabilities
The mission of the Commission for Persons with Disabilities is
to increase opportunities for people with disabilities by
facilitating full and equal participation in all aspects of life
within the City of Boston. This includes reducing architectural,
procedural, attitudinal, and communication barriers as well as
promoting equity in housing, employment, civic activities. The
office oversees the City of Boston's compliance with Title II of
the Americans with Disabilities Act. The services we provide
include information and referral, architectural access review,
accessible parking program, and advocacy on disability issues.
About the Chicago Mayor’s Office for People with
Disabilities
The Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) promotes
total access, full participation and equal opportunity for people
with disabilities of all ages in all aspects of life. It seeks to
accomplish this mission through a multi-faceted approach that
includes systemic change, education and training, advocacy and
direct services. MOPD works to meet the diverse needs of the more
than 600,000 individuals with disabilities who live and work in
Chicago, and make Chicago the most accessible city in the
nation.
About the City of Los Angeles Department on
Disability
Since its founding in 1998, the City of Los Angeles Department
on Disability (DOD) has been the municipality's lead agency
responsible for ensuring that people with disabilities have full
access to employment, programs, activities, services, and
facilities as articulated in the American with Disabilities Act
(ADA) and related federal and state laws. The DOD accomplishes this
by strategically developing and managing partnerships with policy
makers, educational institutions, employers and business
associations, and advocacy groups. Through various initiatives, DOD
has consistently worked to make Los Angeles the Most Accessible Big
City in America.
About the San Francisco Mayor’s Office on Disability
Serving as the City and County of San Francisco’s overall ADA
Coordinator, the mission of the Mayor’s Office on Disability is to
ensure that every program, service, benefit, activity and facility
operated or funded by the City and County of San Francisco is fully
accessible to, and useable by, people with disabilities. In
addition, the Mayor’s Office on Disability supports San Francisco’s
Emergency Management efforts, the members of the Mayor’s Disability
Council, and works to connect San Francisco’s 94,000 residents with
disabilities to local resources and support.
About National Disability Institute
National Disability Institute (NDI) is a national
nonprofit organization dedicated to building a better financial
future for people with disabilities and their families. The first
national organization committed exclusively to championing economic
empowerment, financial education, asset development and financial
stability for all persons with disabilities, NDI affects change
through public education, policy development, training, technical
assistance and innovative initiatives. To learn more, visit
www.nationaldisabilityinstitute.org. Engage with NDI on
Facebook: @NationalDisability or follow NDI on Twitter:
@NatDisability.
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Stephanie Hyon stephanie.hyon@citi.com +1 (212) 816-3397
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