About the Collaborative | Money Smart St. Louis

MISSION STATEMENT

Promoting equitable opportunities for financial health to build wealth and economic prosperity

TAGLINE

Promoting financial health throughout the St. Louis Region

IMPACT STATEMENT

Families in the region have healthy financial behaviors and are building assets for a stable future

The Coalition is a diverse group of community stakeholders who are dedicated to increasing family self-sufficiency and prosperity through financial education and asset-building.

The Coalition facilitates and aligns stakeholders in the Greater St. Louis area for the purpose of creating systems level change, economic mobility for low-wealth households and long-term economic security among all households.

The Coalition also seeks to transform how non-profit agencies and other community partners do business by integrating financial education, banking access, saving and/or credit building into program models and service delivery. The work is carried out through a variety of programs, events and community outreach and education strategies. Signature programs include:

Bank-On Save-Up St. Louis. The goal of Bank On is to ensure that all residents have access to a safe, affordable bank or credit union account. Financial partners are committed to helping consumers identify and enroll in safe, low-cost transactional products.
Financial Empowerment Mini Grants. As part of the effort to build capacity among nonprofit agencies to offer financial education programming to their customers, the Coalition created a small grants program to off-set the cost of providing financial education programs. Up to $500 is available to each agency with three grant periods per year (for a total of $1,500 annually).
Money Smart Month. April is National Financial Literacy Month. In the St. Louis region, we celebrate this as Money Smart Month. Since 2012 volunteers have worked collaboratively to conduct more than 100 free classes, seminars and events promoting financial education topics such as: budgeting and saving, building credit, getting out of debt, home buying, planning for retirement, estate planning, insurance, paying for college, raising money smart kids and small business development.

The Coalition is led by a leadership board with multiple committees (e.g. Finance, Community Engagement, Marketing, Bank On, and Research & Evaluation). A grant and donor funded staff person works to carry out the Coalition mission and goals guided by a strategic plan and annual workplan and budget. United Way of Greater St. Louis supports the coalition as the fiscal sponsor.