LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. announced that the City of Little Rock will participate in the Financial Empowerment Fund’s (CFE) CityStart Initiative, a program focused on helping officials develop and implement strategies to help families and communities become more financially stable.
Little Rock was selected as one of just five cities nationwide that will participate in the program, along with Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Buffalo.
Each city will receive a $75,000 planning grant and an intensive technical assistance engagement partnership.
“Economic equity is a pillar of my administration because for far too long wealth disparities have burdened our community and created unnecessary challenges,” Mayor Scott said. “Our partnership with Cities for Financial Empowerment through the CityStart Initiative will allow us to put financial empowerment at the forefront of our services to residents and to center wealth creation as part of our intentional efforts to unite, grow, and transform this City.”
For the past three years, the program has focused specifically on racial wealth equality.
Mayor Scott said that Little Rock plans to look at examples from other cities, feedback from Little Rock residents, and insight from CFE and Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative to identify innovative and effective strategies to uplift the city's residents.
“Across the country, leaders are using the levers of local government to deploy financial empowerment strategies that improve their residents’ financial stability,” said Jonathan Mintz, president, and CEO of the CFE Fund. “We look forward to working with Mayor Scott and his team to advance financial empowerment and racial wealth equity, and we thank Bloomberg Philanthropies for their longstanding partnership and investment in government-led financial empowerment.”