The seventeenth season of free tax preparation services for Boston residents kicked off yesterday with a launch event at Codman Square Health Center celebrated by Mayor Martin Walsh, the Boston Tax Help Coalition, and key community partners. Residents earning $54,000
Gosia Tomaszewska has been hired as the program manager for Boston Saves, the City of Boston’s children savings account program. Tomaszewska brings to her new role years of experience working on financial education programs with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the
A key wedge driving the gap between Boston’s affluent and low- and middle-income residents is credit. While good credit opens the door to low-cost loans, poor or no credit can make innumerable life transactions more expensive, from car loans to
Past dusk on a recent November evening, over a dozen women – mostly strangers – gathered in a third-floor conference space at JVS CareerSolution to confront an unfortunate reality that bound them. “I don’t think it’s something talked about ever,”
On Tuesday Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the launch of two new programs to help low- and middle-income families grow their wealth: Boston Builds Credit and Bank On Boston. “In Boston, we believe that a great city is one that
A study released today by the Mayor’s Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) finds that the Financial Check-Up (FCU) – a light-touch, one-on-one credit review – can make a dramatic impact on residents’ financial well-being in a short amount of time. A randomized, controlled trial of hundreds
Santander Bank and the Mayor’s Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) have announced that the Boston-based bank will provide a $200,000 grant in support of OFE’s financial education and economic development work for city residents. The OFE will use the grant
Too many adults fail to appreciate the value of good credit until they’ve suffered the consequences of poor or no credit: diminished opportunity for jobs or housing, exorbitant loan or interest rates, limited access to further credit. But could these
Boston Saves, the City of Boston’s children’s savings account program, has been awarded a $150,000 grant from the Boston Foundation to help fund the next two years of its three-year pilot. The funding will help support a financial incentives program
Everyone has money problems. But that’s especially true for young people facing serious employment barriers – such as poverty, unstable housing, or a lack of education or English fluency. For these young people, money can evoke stress or shame. Their family history may bear