“Bank On Rochester is a collaborative movement dedicated to expanding safe and accessible banking for every Rochester resident. Our partners aren’t afraid to reckon with the banking system’s past and the barriers it created. Instead, we’re working collectively to fix them—improving language access, increasing community representation, adapting account-opening policies, and providing financial education built with Rochester’s families in mind.”Yahaira Hayle, Bank On Rochester
Our Mission
Our members offer services and educational resources that help empower people and families to improve their financial capability, health and independence.
It is important that residents have access to resources that help lay a solid foundation for banking and financial empowerment. Our coalition is particularly focused on assisting youth, first-time job seekers and families with disabilities to access financial services..
Our History
Relaunched by the City of Rochester in 2024, Bank On Rochester has worked to connect consumers to safe and affordable banking products certified as meeting the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund’s Bank On National Account Standards. With assistance from the CFE Fund, [and over 40] partners from the private, public and nonprofit sectors convened in the summer of 2024 to identify critical challenges Rochester’s residents often face with participating in mainstream banking, and identified opportunities to address these challenges and strategies they could work on collaboratively to connect Rochester residents to safe and affordable mainstream financial services and products.
Members represent community-based organizations, financial institutions and local government agencies that provide services and resources such as financial counseling, financial education, anti-poverty initiatives, savings programs, banking series, credit repair, employment assistance, youth engagement, housing assistance, small business and resources for local entrepreneurs, and other financial empowerment services.
Coalition members meet regularly to identify points of collaboration, community engagement opportunities, share best practices and develop innovative ideas.
Why Bank?
Cost savings: The average unbanked person spends 5% of net income on unnecessary fees for alternative financial services. This can amount to $40,000 over a lifetime—a significant amount for those who can least afford it.
Asset building: Without a bank account, a family lacks the ability to save reliably or automatically, or establish a banking relationship that can lead to accessing affordable credit for opportunities like a car, small business, or home mortgage.
Financial stability: Research shows that being unbanked makes it harder to achieve financial goals like reducing debt and improving credit scores. One recent CFE Fund study found that unbanked financial counseling clients were less than half as likely to be able to save, and over a third less likely to establish credit, as banked clients.
Public safety: Without a safe place to deposit their money, unbanked people are more likely to be victims of crime because they often carry large sums of cash or keep cash in their homes. The elderly, disabled, and undocumented immigrants can be particularly vulnerable.
THE BANK ON MOVEMENT
Bank On Rochester is proud to be part of the national Bank On movement, made up of over 90 similar local coalitions across the country.
The nonprofit Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) is the national partner for local Bank On coalitions, supporting local efforts through resources like the Bank On National Account Standards and accompanying certification, grant support to build local coalition capacity, and a robust learning community. The CFE Fund also works to give voice to local coalition experiences by informing both federal regulatory policy and financial institution practices.