February 14, 2024
The City of South Bend has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for qualified nonprofit organizations to serve as the financial counseling provider for the City’s new Financial Empowerment Center.
“The Financial Empowerment Center will help empower our residents and help boost the financial well-being of South Bend families,” said Mayor James Mueller. “I am excited that South Bend continues to lead in implementing financial empowerment programs.”
The Financial Empowerment Center is a program developed by the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, a national organization that works to improve the financial stability of low- and moderate-income households by embedding financial empowerment strategies into local government infrastructure. Financial Empowerment Centers have been implemented in over thirty municipalities throughout the United States with proven success.
The City’s Financial Empowerment Center will provide no-cost professional 1-1 financial counseling to South Bend residents. The City of South Bend’s Financial Empowerment Center will be the first launched in Indiana.
Nonprofits have until April 15, 2024 at 11:59pm to submit their proposals to the City. The selected nonprofit will be responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the Center, while the City will provide oversight of the program. The contract award will be $500,000 for the first two years of Financial Empowerment Center operations.
The City will host a webinar on February 20 at 10 am EST to provide further information and address questions about the RFP. Interested parties can view the RFP and register for the webinar at southbendin.gov/financial-empowerment.
To learn more about the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund and the Financial Empowerment Center model, visit fecpublic.org.