The 2010 U.S. Census is fast approaching and, according to this story from NPR’s Morning Edition, the recession will make it even harder for the government to make an accurate count. The decennial count directly impacts the yearly allocation of more than $200 billion in federal funding to states, cities, and municipalities. Unfortunately, many people affected by foreclosures or job loss are in transitory living arrangements and are harder than ever to track down. Furthermore, Labor Department data show that traditionally harder-to-count minority groups, such as Latinos and African Americans,…
Social Compact advocates for the expansion of traditional financial services in order to appropriately serve the needs of unbanked and underbanked populations in the United States. The high (and in many cases, exorbitant) fees applied to basic financial transactions such as check cashing, money transfers, etc. can often create significant barriers to wealth creation in low- and moderate-income communities.
Here are some startling facts:
• According to the Center for Financial Services Innovation, an estimated 40 million underbanked U.S. households spend at least $13 billion each year on more than 340 million non-bank transactions.
As you can tell if you’ve been to our site before, there’s been some changes around here. In our new website you can view videos from our board of directors and president, browse our drilldowns, and view relevant reports, and soon you will be able to graphical view and sort through all of our neighborhood data. A big thanks goes out to Citi for helping to make it all possible. Feel free to drop us a line - we’d love to know what you think.
On July 9, Social Compact director of external relations, Jamie Alderslade, submitted oral testimony to the House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives. The Subcommittee held a hearing on “Census Data and Its Use in Federal Formula Funding.”
Alderslade, along with Mayor Carty Finkbeiner of Toledo, OH, Mayor Robert Bowser of East Orange, New Jersey, and, Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, presented testimony…
From the Office of the Mayor:
Mayor Mallory Delivers Optimistic State of the City Address
Cincinnati - Mayor Mark Mallory declared tonight that “the state of Cincinnati is strong and we are well prepared to face the challenges of the future.” Tonight, the Mayor delivered his fourth State of the City Address to an energetic crowd of around 900 citizens in the Duke Energy Convention Center’s Grand Ballroom.
Throughout his address, the Mayor pointed to partnerships as the key to the progress in the city, citing specific examples in the areas of job creation,…