Image courtesy of the City of Jackson
The City of Jackson announced Wednesday the completion of their CityStart Financial Empowerment Blueprint, a detailed strategic plan for how the City plans to support and encourage financial empowerment among its residents in the years to come. The Blueprint is the result of a 6-month planning process involving data collection and analysis, virtual stakeholder engagement sessions, and policy research to inform the City of Jackson’s priorities, goals, and financial empowerment strategies. Goals of the Blueprint include launching a Financial Empowerment Center to provide free, one-on-one professional financial counseling as an essential government service to residents; promoting financial literacy from childhood to retirement; improving banking access; and addressing predatory lending services.
Work is already underway to realize the goals of this Blueprint, with the City of Jackson already awarded a second planning grant from the Cities for Financial Empowerment for launching a Financial Empowerment Center. The Director of Performance Management, Lauren Kirk, will manage implementation of City of Jackson’s Financial Empowerment Blueprint, with assistance from the Anti-Poverty Task Force. The Blueprint will be available on the City’s website under Projects and Initiatives.
“Financial empowerment is critical to both the well-being of our residents as well as the economic outlook of our city as a whole,” said Mayor Scott Conger. “Financial empowerment strategies and programs will help our community recover and build resilience. We look forward to offering new services and supports to empower our residents and all of West Tennessee.”