Financial Equity Coalition

The Financial Education & Asset Building Working Group focuses upon the ways individuals and communities can build and retain wealth, and seeks to ensure all Coloradans have access to resources and education that will help them live a financially stable life.

With wages for nearly all Coloradans remaining flat since 2000, many families live paycheck to paycheck. They may not have access to typical banking, can't save for college or retirement, have no emergency funds set aside, and face overwhelming debt. In fact, around half of Americans have no retirement accounts at all, and only about 57% of American families are saving for college. The average class of 2016 college graduate had student loan debt of $37,172, while the vast majority of Americans have under $1,000 saved. Additionally, the current racial wealth gap is a stark reminder that inequities continue to exist for communities overcoming historical barriers to wealth building.

This working group is focused on understanding these barriers through community-level outreach so that we can generate innovative, bottom-up solutions that ensure all Coloradans can live a financially healthy and stable life. 

Our working group focuses on:

• Developing procedures to help guide FEC working groups in their community-level outreach
• Conducting community outreach to better understand the barriers to wealth building for everyday Coloradans
• Tracking and compiling ground level data to inform our priorities as a coalition and a working group 

Additional reading on these issues:

• Average Credit Card Debt in America
• Student Loan Debt in America
• Average Retirement Savings by State (Colorado ranks 30th)
• Average Retirement Savings.  Are you normal?
• What the Average American Family is Saving for College
• How Many Americans Have Nothing Saved for Retirement