Citi Community Development Wins Community Impact Award for Role in Kindergarten to College Program at Annual CRA & Fair Lending Colloquium

Today, Citi Community Development announced that it received the 2011 Community Impact Award from Wolters Kluwer Financial Services in recognition of Citi’s leadership, support and ongoing involvement in the development and implementation of the Kindergarten to College (K2C) program in San Francisco. K2C is the nation’s first universal college savings program and combines asset-building opportunities with financial education. The award was presented on November 8 at the 15th Annual Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) & Fair Lending Colloquium in Baltimore, Maryland.

Caption: Jenny Flores, SVP in Citi Community Development in California (center, in black) is surrounded by members of Citi's CRA and Fair Lending Team as she accepts the 2011 Community Impact Award from Edward B. Kramer, Executive VP for Regulatory Programs at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services (sixth from right). (Photo: Business Wire)

The Community Impact Award is bestowed each year “to dedicated compliance professionals and their institutions,” to honor “outstanding and innovative efforts in furtherance of the goals of the Community Reinvestment Act.” The Award also is intended to encourage innovative community lending and to provide the financial industry with examples of superb programs that have made a large impact on underserved communities.

“Citi views our CRA obligations as more than just requirements, but as motivation to develop innovative and collaborative programs that expand financial inclusion,” said Bob Annibale, Global Director of Citi Community Development and Microfinance. “The K2C program is a new integrated approach to building assets through universal youth savings to support future college education. K2C demonstrates Citi’s commitment to financial inclusion, and we are honored that Wolters Kluwer has recognized the program and our contribution as an innovative community development initiative.”

K2C automatically opens savings accounts for all incoming kindergarten students in the San Francisco Unified school district. The accounts are seeded with an initial deposit of up to $100, contributed by the City and County of San Francisco, and other agencies are providing match and incentive funding. Additionally, financial literacy skills are being taught in classrooms using the students’ own accounts to provide real-world context. Students and their families are also able to track the accounts using a new, interactive Citi website. The introduction of K2C makes San Francisco the first city in the nation to integrate financial education into the K-12 math curriculum.

In her remarks accepting the Community Impact Award, Jenny Flores, Senior Vice President for Citi Community Development in California, cited the company-wide involvement in community development.

“K2C benefits from the extremely strong and ongoing engagement of the entire Citi organization,” she said. “I want to mention and thank our colleagues in all of Citi’s businesses across the franchise, particularly the Citibank and Citi Microfinance, whose roles in K2C are essential to the program’s success.”

Ms. Flores cited other examples of innovative, collaborative and scalable solutions that Citi is spearheading to provide people with access to asset-building products and services as well as the opportunity to increase their financial capability:

• In Maryland, working with CASA de Maryland and other local partners, CCD is enabling people to overcome the financial hurdles to citizenship with the new “Citizenship Maryland” program, which provides microloans to cover the cost of naturalization along with credit-building, savings opportunities and financial education.
• In Washington, DC, CCD has expanded its partnership with Capital Area Asset Builders with the new Jobs and Entrepreneurship Savings Accounts program, which couples microloans for workplace equipment or business startup costs with job or entrepreneurial training.
• In Chicago, Citi joined with 11 local nonprofits to create the Chicago Credit Building Coalition, which is combining financial education with access to a secured credit card to assist participants in building assets and credit scores.

The presentation of the award was made by Edward B. Kramer, Executive Vice President for Regulatory Programs at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, which hosts the annual colloquium. The conference provides an opportunity for experts in CRA, HMDA (Home Mortgage Disclosure Act) and fair lending to share the latest information and best practices regarding the regulatory environment for financial services institutions. Among the expert presenters at this year’s event were Irene Fang, Citi’s Corporate Fair Lending Director; Ronald Spann, Director of Citi’s CRA and Fair Lending Analysis Unit; and Ms. Flores.

About Citi Community Development

Citi Community Development (CCD) is leading Citi’s commitment to achieve economic empowerment and growth for underserved individuals, families and communities by expanding access to financial products and services, and building sustainable business solutions and innovative partnerships. Our focus areas include: commercial and philanthropic funding; innovative financial products and services; and collaborations with institutions that expand access to financial products and services for low-income and underserved communities. For more information, visit www.citicommunitydevelopment.com.

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