Thank you to the 40+ people from the Bank On Greater Milwaukee coalition and Milwaukee Alliance for Economic Alliance (AEI) who joined us to celebrate our 4th anniversary on Tuesday, September 19. Our partner, the AEI, shared an overview of findings from the FDIC’s most recent Unbanked and Underbanked Survey and changes we’ve seen in the consumer landscape as a result of the public health pandemic.

Additionally, Lisa Locke from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis presented on the Bank On National Data (BOND) Hub, an interactive dataset tracking Bank On certified account activity across the country and partnerships that promote economic inclusion.

Our celebration of Bank On Consumer Success included a report from Constance Alberts, Program Director, on the accomplishments of the coalition. We unveiled our new Bank On Greater Milwaukee (BOGM) Impact Report, featuring data from coalition members and partners on our impact in 2022 and shared a preview of the forthcoming update of the BOGM website.

Lastly, we recognized our volunteers and key projects that have been in progress over the past year, which include:

• Banking Flier for Teens
• BOGM Advocacy Map 2.0
• How to Open a Bank Account Video
• “What’s In Your Wallet” educational flier
• Banking Access: Prior To Release

All of these efforts emphasize strong, collaborative partnerships with financial institutions, community-based organizations, and local government. We thank our coalition members and volunteers for their support!

View the presentation slides and the BOGM 2022 Impact Report.

Keep an eye out for the updated BOGM website to go live by the end of this year!

Bank On Greater Milwaukee is proud to congratulate the winners of the 2022 Bank On Champion Awards for their accomplishments to support safe and accessible banking.

Bank On Greater Milwaukee honored them on September 29th with an awards ceremony with nearly 50 attendees. We also shared the accomplishments of Bank On Greater Milwaukee over the past 3 years.

Check out slides from the event which include key accomplishments over the past three years (14 certified accounts! 900+ volunteers hours!) and watch a congratulatory message from Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson HERE. Thanks to all that attended and helped us celebrate!

Leadership & Activity Champion: Dan Krohn
Dan is the Manager of Community Partnerships at TMG and has been integral part of the BOGM team for the past three years. He has brought his commitment and expertise to the team as co-chair of the Advocacy Workgroup.  Dan is committed to reducing barriers faced by our disability, elderly and reentry communities.

Community Partner Champion: The Wisconsin Bankers Association
WBA staff Rose Oswald Poels and Heather Mackinnon and others at the WBA have worked to increase knowledge of Bank On accounts to lenders throughout the state. The continued support of WBA allows BOGM to increase access to safe and affordable banking products. As a member of the BOGM Leadership Team their contribution is essential to promoting and moving BOGM initiatives.

Innovation Champion: Migdalia Ervin
Migdalia is a Financial Coach at SDC and has been a BOGM partner from the beginning. Her passion for families is evident in her role as a financial coach, where she has integrated banking access into her practice. She has worked directly with families to explain the benefits of certified accounts along with why it is important to open an account and how to maintain that account.

Community Connector Champion: Jaime De Jesus, Sr.
Jaime is an IES instructor and artist, and works to break down barriers for returning citizens. He is also a part of the BOGM Leadership Team and an advisor in the Advocacy workgroup. His insight has has helped to frame steps that can reduce stumbling blocks faced by our citizens as they return to the community. He works with IES students to get them banked and connects them to financial resources.

Community Connector Champion: Pastor Raymond Monk
Pastor Monk is a Northwest Side CDC Community Organizer and has worked with BOGM to distribute over 500+ BOGM “Your Smart Money” Guides annually and connected BOGM with companies interested in provided families with access to certified accounts and financial empowerment. He has also worked with BOGM community partners to set up multiple VITA mobile events and is instrumental and working to develop initiatives to empower our youth with financial education around business and banking.

Community Connector Champion: Adam Procell
Adam is an author and Re-Entry Strategist with Partners in Hope and has worked with BOGM to help strengthen our understanding of ways to better help our returning citizens. His transparency has been valuable to our entire team. Adam works daily to advocate for our returning citizens in the community and through the legislative.

Community Connector Champion: Conor Williams
Conor is a member of the Milwaukee ReEntry Council and is an Economic Policy Analyst at Community Advocates. He has provided insight on how to assist returning individuals and has been involved in BOGM for over 3 years and has assisted individuals and groups in creating partnerships.

In 2022, Bank On Greater Milwaukee launched the Advocacy Map to advocate for banking expansion and to improve access to banking in the City of Milwaukee. The Advocacy Map is a live interactive map of the City of Milwaukee along with the location of banks and payday lending stores and their service areas. The map shares local data and the intersectionality of data from the 2020 census including population by race and ethnicity, persons with disabilities, household income, household vehicle access, employment, and linguistical isolation.

Data included in the Advocacy Map includes the 2019 American Community Survey.

“The Advocacy Map is a tool for citizens, banks, and decision makers to understand the financial landscape of Milwaukee and help showcase the financial pitfalls and traps for low-income Milwaukeeans.”

-Kate Madison, Advocacy Map Coalition Committee Leader

What is the purpose of the map?

Bank On Greater Milwaukee began working on the Advocacy Map in 2020 to create a tool that could display the gaps in accessing financial products and services. It also serves as a tool for financial institutions to better understand which populations are being underserved, and help banks and financial institutions fulfill their obligations as partners and through the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).

In particular, the Advocacy Map highlights the number of unbanked individuals, where they are, and how low-income individuals are most negatively impacted by a lack of banking access. Individuals who are unbanked are defined as individuals without a banking relationship which includes a checking account or credit card.

The Advocacy Map showcases data such as:

• Concentration and location of households with low to moderate income
• Where bank locations are within the City of Milwaukee
• Where payday lenders are in the City of Milwaukee
• Concentrations of linguistic isolation
• Households without vehicle access
• Intersectionality between all metrics such as low-moderate income households and a lack of banking options

Implications for this data include evidence to support increased funding and outreach to help more individuals become banked and access other financial products and services that help them become financially healthy.

Who is the map for?

This map is for multiple audiences including:

• Consumers who are looking for a bank branch nearby
• Consumers who are looking for a certified banking account
• Consumers who are looking to understand the financial landscape of their community
• Community partners who are looking to understand the needs of low-income individuals as it relates to banking access
• Financial institutions who are looking to address inequity
• Financial institutions who are looking to understand community needs
• Financial institutions interested in working in collaboration with Bank On Greater Milwaukee
• Decision makers and elected officials looking to understand Milwaukee data related to banking and low-income individuals
• Decision makers and elected officials looking to create policies

“This map shows many financial desserts across Milwaukee and is a tool to fight inequity”

Constance Alberts, Bank On Greater Milwaukee Program Manager

Future Considerations

The Advocacy Map will be updated with new data as well as other relevant data as it becomes available. Bank On Greater Milwaukee is working with its partners to use the data and information found in the Advocacy Map to inform access to banking. Our Coalition members are working on strategically addressing issues in banking access, and some of our next steps will be to address guidelines and the reduction of barriers that will help vulnerable people access banking products and services based on their needs.

How was it created?

Bank On Greater Milwaukee started working on this tool after identifying the need for data to understand and showcase the number of unbanked Milwaukeeans. The Advocacy Map idea was overseen by Constance Alberts, Bank On Greater Milwaukee Manager. Together, Bank On worked with stakeholders and members to create the Advocacy Workgroup to oversee this work. This Advocacy Workgroup included Kate Madison, Dan Krohn, and Brittany Thome.

Bank On Greater Milwaukee strategically met with many groups in the formulation and planning process including persons with disabilities, diverse groups, economic development groups, banks, and others. Special thanks to the Coalition for their work and all of the over 50+ groups and individuals therein that participated in helping make the Advocacy Map a possibility.

How You Can Help

• Share this blog post with your networks!
• Spread the word and share the Bank On Advocacy Map using our Social Media Resource page
• Link the Bank On Advocacy Map to your website
• Join Bank On Greater Milwaukee as a partner to help support their work
• Volunteer with the Advocacy Map Coalition

Questions or interested in getting involved?

Email Constance Alberts, Bank On Greater Milwaukee Program Manager at constance@uedawi.org!

MILWAUKEE, WI – Bank On Greater Milwaukee (BOGM) celebrated their two-year anniversary with a virtual awards ceremony that recognized six local entities for their efforts to improve the overall financial health of the Milwaukee community. A program of the Urban Economic Development Association of Wisconsin (UEDA), Bank On Greater Milwaukee belongs to a nation-wide network of Bank On coalitions who aim to strengthen the financial stability of communities by increasing access to safe and affordable deposit accounts.

“A basic transaction account is an important first step to participating in the financial mainstream”, says Constance Alberts, Bank On Greater Milwaukee Program Manager. “We are extremely fortunate to engage a coalition of community organizations, banks, credit unions, and governmental entities who are dedicated to ensuring more households belong to the financial mainstream by developing low-barrier accounts and providing supportive financial education services.”

At their two-year anniversary event last week, Bank On Greater Milwaukee recognized coalition members who have made a significant contribution to the mission of Bank On Greater Milwaukee over the past year through innovative product development, programming, and community engagement efforts with their 2021 BOGM Champion Awards.

2021 BOGM Champions:

• Milwaukee Public Library: Community Partner Champion
  Each year, MPL assists Bank On Greater Milwaukee with the updating and distribution of 10,000+ Money Smart Resource Guides, and has served as a financial education partner for many years.
• Summit Credit Union: Product Development Champion
  Summit Credit Union’s development of the Balance Account and a non-custodial Bank On account will help expand banking access to youth.
• REAL Bank Program: Innovation Champion
  Developed by Lad Lake, Summit Credit Union, St. Charles Youth & Family Services, Inc., and the Economic Awareness Council, the REAL Bank Program works to ensure youth aging out of foster care will have access to financial education and bank accounts that are safe and affordable.
• Carol Maria, FDIC: Leadership & Activity Champion
  Carol played an integral role in bringing Bank On to the Milwaukee community and continues to engage local, regional, and national partners in efforts that move the needle on expanding mainstream financial inclusion.

“We are honored to receive this recognition from Bank On Greater Milwaukee,” said Sarah Campagna, Managing Vice President of Financial Empowerment for Summit Credit Union. “Summit Credit Union is committed to providing holistic financial experiences by pairing our safe and affordable products with our award-winning financial education. In joining the Bank On Greater Milwaukee coalition this past year, we have been able to reach even more families and communities with these resources.”

Since launching in 2019, Bank On Greater Milwaukee has more than doubled the number of Bank On certified accounts available in the Milwaukee area, from six to fourteen, with two more accounts near certification. Accounts at Bank Five Nine, BMO Harris, Chase, CIBC, Equitable, First Federal, First Midwest, Old National, PNC, Self-Help Federal Credit Union, Summit Credit Union, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo all have at least one account that has been certified by the national Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) as meeting the 2021-2022 Bank On National Account Standards (NAS).

Key features of NAS certified accounts include low or no monthly maintenance costs, no overdraft or non-sufficient fund fees, online pay bills and money online, and federal deposit insurance. A full list of certified accounts can be found here.

More than 100 Bank On certified accounts, at institutions comprising 52% of national deposit market share, can help residents receive Child Tax Credit and other emergency payments

In this press release, the CFE Fund announced that there are now more than 100 bank and credit union accounts nationally certified as meeting the Bank On National Account Standards. Banks and credit unions offering certified accounts comprise over 50% of the U.S. deposit market share, and 40% of all US bank branches offer a certified account; nearly two million Bank On certified accounts were opened in 2019. With the certification of BMO Harris’ Smart Money™ Account, BOM Bank’s EZ Checking account, Rio Grande Credit Union’s Fresh Start Checking, US Eagle FCU’s Flex Checking account, and Wintrust Community Banks’ Money Smart Checking account, there are now 108 accounts certified as meeting Bank On National Account Standards. These accounts can expand access to safe and appropriate transactional accounts to the almost 36 million people outside of the mainstream financial system, and can be used to receive and manage the federal Child Tax Credit and other emergency payments.

To learn more about Bank On, visit www.cfefund.org/bankon.

MILWAUKEE – On Thursday, September 19 the Urban Economic Development Association of Wisconsin (UEDA) launched the state’s first Bank On coalition. Bank On Greater Milwaukee joins a nationwide network of more than 90 coalitions working to help improve the financial stability of unbanked and underbanked individuals and families by connecting them to safe and affordable financial products and services.

At least 44,000 households in Milwaukee are unbanked, causing individuals to rely on costly alternative financial services like check cashers, payday lenders, and pawnshops for routine financial transactions. Fees associated with using alternative services can cost an unbanked person around $40,000 over a lifetime. A basic transaction account is an important first step in participating in the financial mainstream, where account holders can deposit earnings securely, pay bills efficiently, save money and access affordable credit.

“We formed Bank On Greater Milwaukee to make it easier to connect people to accounts that help them save money, securely deposit what they earn, and build credit. Our coalition members are committed to offering education and services that help them become financially healthy,” says Constance Alberts, Bank On Greater Milwaukee Program Manager.

Through support from Wells Fargo and the national nonprofit the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, UEDA began convening the coalition in early 2018. Since then, Bank On Greater Milwaukee’s network of banks, credit unions, nonprofit organizations and public officials has helped seven financial institutions establish accounts that meet Bank On national account standards. Accounts certified as meeting the Bank On National Account Standards are:

• Safe: No overdraft, non-sufficient funds, or dormancy fees
• Affordable: Monthly fees of $5 or less with a low minimum opening deposit
• Functional: Pay bills, make deposits and withdrawals, and transfer money

For more information on the program and a list of certified accounts visit www.BankOnMilwaukee.org. 

---

Current Bank On Greater Milwaukee Partners: ArtWorks for Milwaukee, Associated Bank, CIBC, City of Milwaukee, Educators Credit Union, Extension Milwaukee County, Fund My Future Milwaukee, Innovative Educational Solutions Institute, The Joseph Project, Journey House, Metro Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, Milwaukee JobsWork, Milwaukee Urban League, Mitchell Bank, National Disability Institute, Riverworks Financial Clinic, SecureFutures, Self Help Credit Union, Social Development Commission, Sojourner Family Peace Center, UEDA, US Bank, UW Credit Union, Wells Fargo.

About the Urban Economic Development Association of Wisconsin: UEDA is a 501(c)(3) membership association dedicated to facilitating effective, cross-sector collaboration, meaningful connections, and strengthening individual and organizational capacity in Wisconsin’s community and economic development sector. Incorporated in 1997, we focus on and advocate for community investment, sustainable homeownership and housing, regional transportation, small business growth, financial empowerment and the local food economy. www.uedawi.org