Savings Communities

MODEL PROGRAM AKRON, OHIO

F I N A N C I A L E D U C A T I O N F O R A M E R I C A

M A Y O R S ’ N A T I O N A L D O L L A R W I $ E C A M P A I G N

THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORSCOUNCIL FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CITY

AKRON, OHIO

DOLLAR WI$EModel Program

Savings Communities

RIGHT

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, to the left of the podium, participates in a

press conference with The United States Conference of Mayors and the Consumer

Federation of America announcing the launch of the city’s Savings Communities

initiative, September 22, 2008.

MayorDon Plusquellic

O N L I N E

www.akronsaves.org

C O N T A C T

Billy Soule

330.375.2660

soulebi@ci.akron.oh.us

During Dollar Wi$e Week in September

2008, Mayor Don Plusquellic, joined by

the Dollar Wi$e Campaign and America

Saves, launched the Savings Communities

initiative, a five-month effort to help Akron

residents build their savings. The goal,

established by the city and its partners, was

$1 million in additional savings. The local

newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal, was a

key partner; it printed columns with savings

tips, organized a financial fair, and profiled

the savings efforts of six local families.

During America Saves Week in February

2009, Mayor Plusquellic announced that

Akronites had achieved their goal.

To combat the lack of personal savings, the City of Akron created the Savings Communities initiative, a community-wide coalition launched during Dollar Wi$e Week 2008 in partnership with The United States Conference of May-ors’ National Dollar Wi$e Campaign and the Consumer Federation of America’s America Saves Campaign. With the help of more than 30 organizations, the City provided residents motivation, education, and increased opportunities to save. With the sup-port of a media partner, the Akron Beacon Journal, word got out that residents can save even small amounts and access no-fee, low-opening-balance (less than $25) savings accounts. This effort cul-minated in February 2009 during America Saves Week, when Mayor Don Plusquellic announced that this initiative generated more than $1 million in new savings among Akron-area residents.

WHAT A SAVINGSCOMMUNITY DOES

Recruit organizations toparticipate in one city-wide goalUnder Mayor Plusquellic’s leadership, the City brought together more than 30 government agencies, employers, and other organizations in the Akron area to support the initiative. For a bank or credit union, that could mean offering and pro-moting a no-fee savings account and automatic deposits. Employers could boost participation in a workplace retirement program and promote automatic deposits into an emergency account. A nonprofit could offer financial counseling, educa-tion, and saving a portion of a tax refund.

THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS

ABOVE

The Akron Beacon Journal and other area groups held a financial fair for residents, October 18, 2008.

CITY OF AKRON

Partnerships

The centerpiece of the initiative was a coalition of local employers, financial institutions, nonprofits, and others that promoted a message of personal savings and provided concrete opportunities to help people save.

Banking partnersAkron Employees Municipal Credit UnionChaseFifth ThirdFirstMeritKey BankMed/Pro Federal Credit UnionNational CityNorth Akron SavingsTowpath Credit UnionU.S. Bank

Business and community partners

Akron Area Association of ChurchesAkron General Medical CenterAkron Public SchoolsAkron Beacon JournalAkron Metropolitan Housing AuthorityAkron Summit Community Action, Inc.Akron-Summit County Public LibraryAkron Urban LeagueAT&TCity of AkronCounty of SummitDowntown Akron PartnershipEast Akron Community HouseFirstEnergyGreater Akron ChamberInfoCisionMt. Zion Baptist ChurchMustard Seed Development CenterNAACP, Akron BranchSumma Health Care SystemsThe House of the LordThe University of AkronUnited Way of Summit CountyUniversity Park Alliance

•

•••••

•••

•

•

•

•••

•

•

•••••

•

••

••

•

••

•

•

•

•

Establish a community-wide savings goal encouraging residents to go above and beyond existing savingsThe City worked with its partnering organizations to determine a baseline of Akron residents’ cur-rent savings rates and habits. From this baseline, the community set a goal to save an additional $1 million between September 2008 and February 2009. These dates spanned the winter holidays and shopping season, a time notorious for families spending beyond their means.

Publicize the initiative by teaming up withlocal newspapers and media outletsThe Akron Beacon Journal, the local newspaper, and several local television stations covered the press conference that launched the initiative and reported on the community’s efforts during the months of the Savings Communities campaign. The Beacon Journal was also one of the City’s major partners in the Savings Communities initiative, using the reach of the newspaper and its Web site, Ohio.com, to reach out to the public and support individuals’ and families’ contributions toward the community-wide goal. In the months leading up to the initiative’s launch, writers at the Beacon Journal contributed columns with ideas for saving money, ranging from cooking and grocery shopping to family entertainment. Throughout the initiative, Beacon Journal consumer columnist and business reporter Betty Lin-Fisher also profiled six Akron-area families and their efforts to save up for different goals. This series of articles provided a human, “real-life” face to the concept of savings.

CITY

OF

AKRO

N/A

KRO

N B

EACO

N JO

URN

AL, 1

9 O

CTO

BER

2008

, PAG

E B1

Help organizations develop plans toprovide savings opportunitiesOnce the community set its savings tar-get, the City and its partners worked to help Akronites achieve their com-mon goal. The coalition held monthly meetings to review the community’s progress toward reaching its goal and share ideas on effective public out-reach. The City also set up a Web site, AkronSaves.org, and provided publicity materials—posters, postcards, window clings, and other items—to its partners.

Provide financial counselors to evaluate residents’ budgets and offer financial educationThe City’s partners were particularly instrumental in providing the public ac-cess to financial counselors. The Akron Beacon Journal also organized a public financial fair at Akron’s Knight Center a month after the initiative’s launch. Local financial institutions and participating organizations offered materials and financial advice to attendees, and resi-dents could speak with financial coun-selors about their savings goals.

Track cumulative progress by collectingprogress reports from participating groupsThe City and its partners, including the Beacon Journal, invited Akronites to sign pledges stating how much they would aim to save during the initiative. Partnering organizations and financial institutions reported how much additional savings they recorded among their clients. (These savings were reported in the aggregate to protect individuals’ privacy.) Akron’s initiative spanned five months between two significant national campaigns: Dollar Wi$e Week in September 2008 and America Saves Week in February 2009, when Mayor Plusquellic announced that Akronites had achieved their savings goal. The initiative capitalized on the visibility these national initiatives could bring to local efforts.

ABOVE

The City of Akron provided this poster and other publicity materials to participating organizations to spread the word about the Savings Communities initiative.

202.861.6759

dollarwise@usmayors.org

www.dollarwiseonline.org

Mayors’ NationalDollar Wi$e Campaign

Linda Lance of Akron was one of the depositors at Roll Your Change Week—and a big one at that. She said her husband Wes had been saving change for probably more than 20 years. He’d fill coffee cans and stash them around the house. She’d yell at him to move his cans. “I saw the story in the paper and thought, ‘This is the perfect time,’” Linda recalls. So Wes bought her a red wagon, built a ramp, and loaded everything into her SUV before he headed off to work. It took Linda two wagon trips into Towpath Credit Union’s Akron branch. Her husband thought perhaps he had $1,000 in change. When the teller told Linda she was approaching $2,000, the anticipation began to grow. Others marveled as the count continued. “Most of them had one jar,” Linda observed. One woman decided to stay and watch. “It was kind of like being in Vegas and playing the slot machine and having everyone watch you. It really was an adventure.” The final count: $4,120.18. “I said, ‘My God, we’ve had $4,000 sitting around in the floor and in the closet,’” said Linda, who works at Schwebel’s Bakery. Her husband is a welder. The Lances will put the money into a CD for savings.

ROLL YOUR CHANGE WEEK

Over $10.5 billion in loose change sits unproductive in homes across America. Roll Your Change Week was incorporated into the initiative to make use of this large amount of unintented savings and highlight the need for more regular, intentional savings plans. Local banks and credit unions of-fered prizes and incentives to individu-als making deposits of change into their accounts. One credit union alone had more than $250,000 in change deposited over a four-day period. By the close of business Friday—a holiday-shortened week—they had accepted 833 deposits and opened 188 new ac-counts by collecting $266,000 in coins.

This community-wide effort required the mayor’s leadership, coordination by a City staff member, marketing materi-als and messages focused on financial action—saving, opening and making deposits into an account, signing up for

direct deposit, and reducing debt—and partnership commit-ments from the heads of local organizations and companies. It appealed to the self-interest of all involved: individuals who need and want to save; community leaders who provide motivation; organizations looking to support their employees’ financial stability and their clients’ self-sufficiency; students learning savings habits and managing their finances to stay in school; and the community in general developing an image of prudence and financial good sense. The effort went beyond financial education to focus on financial action—saving money, reducing debt, and building wealth. Through the Savings Communities initiative, leaders and organizations in Akron sent the message that making small changes in spending habits can allow individuals and families to begin building savings right away.

Making Roll Your Change Week count

Join Akron’s Savings Community initiative and start saving today. Build wealth, not debt.

TO LEARN MORE

www.AkronSaves.org330.375.2660 or 216.375.3255

It all adds up.

ON

TH

E CO

VER:

AKR

ON

ART

MU

SEU

M/P

HO

TO B

Y RO

CKYR

ADIO

AT

FLIC

KR