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City staff and partners present results, partnerships and $150,000 gap request for Financial Empowerment Center
Summary
City officials and FEC providers described program outcomes — debt reduction, savings and credit improvements — and asked the committee for a $150,000 city contribution to help sustain Goodwill's FEC contract through a fund balance period while staff pursue additional grants and private support.
Deputy Mayor Chris Sorbet and officials from the Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) and Resilience and Equity presented program outcomes and a supplemental funding request for the Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) at the May 14 committee meeting.
Amber Dittins, director of OFE, gave topline results: over the program's history FEC counseling has helped clients reduce non‑mortgage debt by approximately $2,060,000, enable savings totaling about $664,000, and support 425 clients who increased credit scores by at least 31 points. Dittins said the program has provided credit reports to 978 people and has an average client income of about $28,000, with roughly 70% of clients identifying as women. "The average savings for the program is about $3,178 per person," she said, and noted most clients attend two or more sessions.
Deputy Mayor Deandre Hayes and Dittins said the program launched in 2020 with Goodwill as the initial partner after national seed funding. In 2023 the city issued an RFP that brought Tulsa Response on as a…
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