This brief offers lessons learned about how to protect recipient benefits, particularly in California, through the lens of the Abundant Birth Project (ABP), a pilot program aimed at reducing birth health disparities and improving birth outcomes for Black and Pacific Islander pregnant women in San Francisco by providing $1,000 per month for six months during pregnancy and six months post-partum.

Listen to our discussion on the mysterious and often problematic, ChexSystems that leaves so many people vulnerable from achieving financial mobility.

Missed a rent payment? San Francisco’s commercial eviction moratorium will end Sept. 30, 2021. Learn more about eviction protections and resources available to help you understand your lease and how to negotiate with your landlord/tenant. Click here to learn more.

Read five ways to create meaningful and life-changing financial outcomes for the community with this report from Smart Money Coaching. Read more here.

In this report we tackle the unfair, unequal and opaque consumer banking systems that have blacklisted so many low-income consumers, immigrants, and in particular Black consumers from the financial mainstream.

Today Governor Newsom proposed an investment of more than $2 billion in a statewide college savings account modeled after San Francisco’s Kindergarten to College Program (K2C).

Since founding the Bank On movement in 2006, the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) has found persistent disparities in banking access due to structural flaws in the financial system. This brief outlines four major systemic barriers to banking -- distrust of mainstream financial institutions, ChexSystems records, debt in collections and asset limits -- as well as opportunities to remove these barriers and increase banking access. Read more here.

You can now book an appointment with Smart Money Coaching online! Get the help you deserve now!

A joint report done with the California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC). As COVID-19 continues to ravage the health and economic security of millions of Americans, it is critically important to evaluate the relief efforts offered by financial institutions. And at this time, when our nation is confronted with the reality of its historic and systemic racism, it is crucial that we evaluate such relief efforts with a racial equity lens.

The experience of the Kindergarten to College (K2C) Children’s Savings Account (CSA) program run by the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) shows that despite economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, families remain committed to saving for college.

In accord with COVID-19 public health advisories, Bay Area Legal Aid is canceling all “in-person” Consumer Rights clinics until at least April 12, 2020. Until we can resume in-person clinics, we will be offering a limited number of individual phone and/or online appointments on Thursdays. To schedule a phone and/or online appointment for legal information on your consumer issue, please RSVP at 800-551-5554.

Smart Money Coaching is still serving San Francisco! We have transitioned all appointments to phone and video appointments. Our dedicated coaches are here to support you through this difficult time. To schedule an appointment with a certified financial coach call 877-256-0073. If you are a senior or an adult with a disability, please call 415-865-5534.