Financial education in San Francisco: a study of local practioners, service gaps and promising practices

The landscape of financial education services in San Francisco is broad, with multiple organizations offering services for diverse populations. However, until recently, there has been little effort to coordinate the many resources and organizations committed to promoting financial education. The recently formed San Francisco Financial Education Network is a collaborative group of nonprofit service providers, philanthropic funders, and local public sector representatives dedicated to improving the provision of financial education services in the city. Network participants agreed there is currently a lack of information regarding local programs and expressed great interest in sharing promising practices or working together to face common challenges. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco undertook this research effort to promote collaboration at the local level and disseminate the findings to a wider audience interested in the field of financial education. The findings in this report are based on a series of interviews with experienced financial education providers from nine organizations.