There are opportunities for financial institutions and community-based organizations to get involved in the coalitions listed below. For contact information, see the end of each section.

Alliance for Economic Inclusion (AEI)
The Alliance for Economic Inclusion is a national initiative to establish broad-based coalitions of financial institutions, community-based organizations and other partners in major markets across the country to bring all unbanked and underserved populations into the financial mainstream. The focus has been on expanding basic retail financial services for underserved populations, including savings accounts, affordable remittance products, small-dollar loan programs, targeted financial education programs, alternative delivery channels and other asset-building programs. The AEI covers an umbrella area from Houston to Austin to Del Rio and southward. There are three committees: Regulatory Issues, Financial Products and Services, and Asset Building. For more information, contact Eloy Villafranca at (972) 761-8010 or evillafranc@fdic.gov.

Asset-Building Coalitions
The Asset-Building Coalition of Dallas and Denton Counties (ABCD), Houston Asset Building Coalition (HABC) and San Antonio Coalition for Family Economic Progress are alliances of organizations and individuals that promote financial education and public awareness of the Earned Income Tax Credit and other tax benefits for low-income workers. The coalitions recruit volunteers and partners to staff Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites during tax season. Coalitions’ members include representatives from the IRS, local governments, social service organizations and other community-based organizations and financial institutions.

Contact information
ABCD: Johnnie Bowers at johnnie.m.bowers@irs.gov
HABC: www.houstonassetbuilding.org
San Antonio Coalition: Michael Goeken (210) 207-5910.

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Roundtables
CRA Roundtables are forums to share ideas, knowledge and expertise on how to meet the credit needs of low- and moderate-income communities. Participants include financial institutions, community development corporations and other nonprofit organizations, and city and county governments that periodically meet in Austin, Dallas–Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston, San Antonio and Tyler. For more information, contact the community affairs office of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision or Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Credit Coalition
The Credit Coalition is a Houston-based nonprofit organization formed by local community groups, credit bureaus and financial institutions to help people understand and obtain access to credit. The Coalition offers a free six-week series of classes called “The Fundamentals of Good Credit,” which is taught by experts from the banking, credit counseling and legal industries. For more information, go to www.creditcoalition.org.

Get Checking™
The Federal Reserve Board’s 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances reports that approximately 10 million U.S. households do not have a banking relationship. Get Checking™ is a financial education program that helps unbanked and previously banked consumers (re)establish checking or savings accounts, with focused education and a guaranteed bank account after completion of the program. For more information, go to www.getchecking.org.

Go Direct®
More than 150 million federal benefit payment checks, such as Social Security, Supplemental Security Income and Veterans Administration benefits payments, are processed each year at a cost of 75 cents each. In 2006, this cost taxpayers $120 million.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Banks are sponsoring the Go Direct campaign to motivate people who receive federal benefits payments to sign up for direct deposit. Today, about 80 percent of federal benefit payments are made by direct deposit.

Since 1986, direct deposit has saved the federal government $6 billion. The savings that result from converting from paper checks to direct deposit will be used to cover the costs of future Social Security payments. In addition to reducing costs, direct deposit makes the receipt of funds safer, easier and more convenient to consumers. For more information, call the helpline at (800) 333-1795 or go to www.godirect.org.

Home Ownership Preservation Enterprise (HOPE)
Texas has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. To address this problem, local leaders launched the HOPE Partnership, which includes mortgage lenders, nonprofits and government agencies from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and Houston. The focal point of the campaign is the toll free (888) 995-HOPE (4673) hotline, which is administered by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation and provides free counseling in English and Spanish 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information, see www.995HOPE.org.

RAISE Texas
A project of Houston-based Covenant Community Capital Corp., RAISE Texas (formerly known as the Texas Asset Building Coalition) is a network of financial institutions, local governments, Earned Income Tax Credit/Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site tax coalitions, Individual Development Account (IDA) program administrators, financial and homebuyer education practitioners, credit counselors and others dedicated to expanding asset-building opportunities for low-income Texans. RAISE stands for Resources, Assets, Investments, Savings and Education, all important components for moving Texans toward financial success.

The RAISE Texas website includes a searchable database for IDA programs, free tax preparation sites, homebuyer education and financial education programs and classes, small business information and technical assistance providers, debt management organizations, and much more. For more information, contact Woody Widrow at woody@covenantcapital.org.

Texas Foreclosure Prevention Task Force
Facilitated by NeighborWorks® America, the Texas Foreclosure Prevention Task Force works to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Its membership includes mortgage lenders and servicers, bank regulators, government-sponsored enterprises, nonprofit service providers, industry associations and state and local governments. The task force's activities include raising public awareness of the foreclosure issue and publicizing available resources such as the homeownership preservation counseling hotline (888) 995-HOPE (4673), supporting local foreclosure prevention efforts, monitoring mortgage default trends, fundraising for local counseling organizations, dispersing information about available mortgage assistance programs, and analyzing potential legislative and regulatory recommendations that support homeownership retention. For more information, contact JoAnn DePenning at jdepenning@austin.rr.com.

Texas Saves
Texas Saves is a statewide social marketing campaign dedicated to helping Texans build wealth, reduce debt and create lifelong financial security. The organization recruits and trains wealth-building coaches and motivational speakers for wealth-building clubs and follows up with Texas Savers to help them reach their savings goals. For more information, call Cynthia Nevels at (877) TX-SAVE-0 (897-2830) or go to www.txsaves.org.