> To help leverage what really works in helping vulnerable
adults become more financially secure, AARP Foundation
collaborated with a number of creative nonprofit and for-
profit organizations in 2009. Together, we made it better.
One of them was CFED (the Corporation for
Enterprise Development), a national nonprofit
dedicated to expanding economic opportunity
for low-income people. We were proud to provide
lead sponsorship support for its innovation@cfed
initiative, which included an October summit in
Washington, DC, that fostered lively discussions
on topics such as serving people who do not use
traditional banks and equipping young adults for
a lifetime of savings.
We also began following with interest the
work of four bold thinkers, whom CFED calls
“Innovators in Residence.” Their interplay with
our staff and others could help bring to life
the creative ideas they are exploring, such as
encouraging small businesses to provide direct-deposit of low-wage workers’ paychecks and
making manufactured housing more available
and affordable by aggregating demand for it from
nonprofits nationwide.
AARP Foundation also teamed with Bank On
Los Angeles (BOLA) to encourage more people
with limited incomes to avoid high-cost, high-risk services such as payday lenders and check-cashing stores by learning about bank services
tailored to their needs. Alma Islas was one of
the Latina volunteers known as “promotoras”
who worked on our behalf to get the word out
about the free tax preparation and bank account
opening services made available by BOLA.
Islas, who has lived in the area all her life, was
delighted at the results. “My basic process was
to say it was free, easy and you get your refund
back quickly. I told them they’d also get the
opportunity to see if they were eligible to open
a bank account, which I encouraged a lot of
members to do,” she said. As a result, Islas said,
“The people I helped have the idea of saving
banking on it Alma Islas helped us notify Spanish-speaking people with modest incomes about the
free tax preparation and bank account opening
services made available by Bank On Los Angeles.
money, and they have more knowledge about
using a bank account and all the money they are
saving from check-cashers. “
“The experience was great.
To me, it’s important to
educate the community
like that.”
