Through the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund provided grants to Eligible Organizations to enable them to provide a range of financial education and counseling services to prospective homebuyers, with the goals of:
- increasing the financial knowledge and decision-making capabilities of prospective homebuyers;
- assisting prospective homebuyers to develop monthly budgets, build personal savings, finance or plan for major purchases, reduce their debt, improve their financial stability, and set and reach their financial goals;
- helping prospective homebuyers to improve their credit scores by understanding the relationship between their credit histories and their credit scores; and
- educating prospective homebuyers about the options available to build savings for short- and long-term goals.
The ultimate program goals of the FEC Pilot Program are to identify successful methods resulting in positive behavioral change for financial empowerment, and to establish program models for organizations to carry out effective financial education and counseling services to prospective homebuyers.
Visit the CDFI Fund�s website at www.cdfifund.gov for more information.
Guidance for Applicants that are Intermediaries or Collaborative Efforts.
Questions?
For more information on the FEC Pilot Program, please contact the CDFI Fund by e-mailing cdfihelp@cdfi.treas.gov or by calling (202) 622-6355.
For more information, visit: http://www.cdfifund.gov/what_we_do/programs_id.asp?programID=8
Information on the FY 2010 Funding Round of the FEC Pilot Program
The CDFI Fund opened the fiscal year 2010 (FY 2010) round of the Financial Education and Counseling (FEC) Pilot Program on June 2, 2010 with a Notice of Funds Availability in the Federal Register.
About the FY 2010 Funding Round of the FEC Pilot Program
The CDFI Fund is only soliciting applications from organizations headquartered in Hawaii for FY 2010. The FEC Pilot Program was appropriated $4.15 million in FY 2010, of which $3.15 million was designated by Congress to be awarded to an organization located in the State of Hawaii.
With respect to the remaining $1 million in appropriated funds, the CDFI Fund will not solicit new applications due to the large number of highly qualified applications it received for the FY 2009 funding round of the FEC Pilot Program. The CDFI Fund received over 200 applications for the FY 2009 funding round in November of 2009, and many highly qualified applications could not be funded. As a result, the remaining $1 million of FY 2010 appropriated funds will be granted to up to five of the organizations that were finalists under the FY 2009 round but did not receive awards.