City of Tulsa launching Office of Financial Empowerment

TULSA, Okla. — The City of Tulsa announced its participation in the national nonprofit organization Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund’s (CFE Fund’s) Financial Empowerment City Initiative.

The city is launching an Office of Financial Empowerment and Community Wealth to showcase the partnership.

An Office of Financial Empowerment is division of government that helps initiate different personal financial stability programs and policies. This could include one-on-one financial counseling or safe banking.

Mayor G.T. Bynum announced this launch on Thursday, speaking to the financial empowerment stakeholders at city hall.

“Since we launched the Tulsa Financial Empowerment Center, we have remained committed to embed financial empowerment resources into City services,” Bynum said. “With the help of CFE Fund, we’re now able to have a dedicated division inside our Resilience office that carries out this vision.”

Tulsa is among six municipal governments chosen to participate in the group of Financial Empowerment Cities (FE Cities) and will receive training and technical assistance over two years to help create the office.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing recovery has only underscored the critical role that local government can – and must –play in building residents’ financial stability,” said Jonathan Mintz, President and CEO of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund. “An Office of Financial Empowerment, with dedicated leadership, is more than the sum of important individual programs – it’s a catalyst for truly embedding financial empowerment work across government. The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund congratulates the City of Tulsa, and is thrilled to partner with Mayor Bynum and the Tulsa team to launch and lead this new Office.”

“The launch of this office is the culmination of more than a decade’s worth of work by multiple community partners, and I could not be more excited to be part of it,” said Janae Bradford, the new Director of the Office of Financial Empowerment and Community Wealth. “The Office of Financial Empowerment and Community Wealth will be the convener and leader of collaboration across the city of financial empowerment strategies. Our main goal through this office will be to partner with local community organizations, residents, and industry experts to identify and research barriers to financial stability that are relevant to Tulsans and implement new initiatives aimed at breaking down those barriers. This will be a team effort, so thank you in advance to all stakeholders for the impactful work on which we are about to embark.”

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