Background 

The planning process for the local FEC began in 2018, when the CFE Fund sent two representatives to meet with key Sacramento stakeholders. We held two community forums on two subsequent days. The first was with City and County representatives and funders, and the second was with the nonprofit community; total attendance was 65. The key takeaways from participant feedback at these forums were as follows:

• The most important factors to consider are: 1) integration with existing work in the community rather than creating a new wheel; 2) ensuring cultural competency of counselor/coaches and the overall initiative approach; 3) location/accessibility for target populations.

• In order, the top-mentioned specific integration partnership ideas were youth (especially ages 18-24), housing, medical/health, employment/entrepreneurship, City/County and faith-based.

In Spring 2019, the City selected the Sacramento office of International Rescue Committee (IRC) as our lead FEC implementation partner. They will employ the FEC counselor/coaches and manage day-to-day operations.

 In September 2019, Amy Williamson came on board as the City of Sacramento’s FEC Manager. Amy previously assisted with the FEC planning phase in her former role as Financial Stability Program Officer at United Way California Capital Region. She is responsible for overall FEC management and sustainability.

Our goal in Year 1 of operations is to work with 900 clients.

Sacramento’s national FEC cohort through CFE Fund includes Akron, OH; Detroit, MI; Greenville County, SC; Houston, TX; Memphis, TN; New Haven, CT; Pittsburgh, PA; Shreveport, LA; and Syracuse, NY. Our mentor city is Denver, CO, which was a member of the first CFE Fund FEC replication cohort.