By Dustin Tyler Joyce
February 12, 2007

The Mayors’ National Dollar Wi$e Campaign awarded Capacity Grants to three cities at the 75th Winter Meeting of The U.S. Conference of Mayors January 26. Louisville Metro received $25,000 while the Quad Cities and Avondale (AZ) received $15,000 each to enhance their ongoing financial literacy efforts.

Mary Jane Seebach, Managing Director for Public Affairs at Countrywide Financial Corporation, presented the awards during the Friday morning Plenary Session. Countrywide is the founding sponsor of the Dollar Wi$e Campaign.

Louisville’s grant will support the city’s first-ever Asset Building Summit. The grant will also help fund family-focused financial education evenings. In presenting the award to Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, Seebach lauded the city as a role model for other cities to follow. “As an active member of the Dollar Wi$e program, Louisville, through the Louisville Asset Building Coalition, has been a leader in focusing on enhancing financial education for its citizens,” she said. Abramson told the mayors that the program has made a real difference in the lives of people in the Louisville community.

The Quad Cities, consisting of Bettendorf (IA), Davenport (IA), Moline (IL), and Rock Island (IL), received a grant for their multi-jurisdictional QC DollarWise Partnership. Accepting the award for the Quad Cities area was Davenport Mayor Ed Winborn. He explained that the funding will support the partnership’s goals to increase its membership and expand its research. As it does so, the partnership will be able to offer more residents information about banking, the EITC, and the perils of payday lending services.

Avondale Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers was represented by Assistant City Manager David Fitzhugh. The city received the grant for its Financially F.I.T. (Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow) program. The program reached 350 people in 2006 through community workshops on savings, taxes, and other financial matters. The grant will enable the city to support a fulltime staff person for the Financially F.I.T. program.

The grants are funded through a donation of $1 million over five years by Countrywide. “Countrywide’s participation in this program is based on our belief that through the combined efforts of our businesses, communities, schools and government we can empower consumers to be savvy about personal finance, investment and homeownership,” stated Seebach.

As a major mortgage lender, explained Seebach, “[Countrywide] understand[s] that homeownership has long been an important key to wealth building in the United States. But we also know that far too many people lack the necessary financial skills to buy a home, invest, or fully comprehend the importance of managing personal financial affairs. That is why we are very pleased to be part of this multiyear commitment to strengthen and expand the Dollar Wi$e program.”

“The more financial skills our citizens have, the more able they are to achieve homeownership, raise families, and contribute to our communities as a whole,” commented Conference of Mayors President Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer. “I strongly support the efforts of the many mayors involved in the Dollar Wi$e Campaign, and I greatly appreciate Countrywide’s generosity in providing the funding to make these Capacity Grants possible.”

Dollar Wi$e Capacity Grants will be awarded over the next three years to cities that participate in the Dollar Wi$e Campaign and that demonstrate outstanding and innovative ongoing financial literacy programs for their citizens.