This blog post was written by Lisa Schalla, Project Director of the Connecting Communities in the Americas initiative. List courtesy of Jill Wheeler, Senior Financial Program Specialist at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
I recently had the pleasure of being introduced to Jill Wheeler, who formerly worked with the Inter-American Foundation in Mexico and Central America, and is now at the CFPB in Washington D.C. Jill was very interested in learning more about Connecting Communities in the Americas and how so many community foundations are looking for new ways to advocate for inclusion and belonging.
Download the resources below to learn how community foundations can support their multilingual and multicultural community members.
Helping multilingual communities and newcomers
This article includes content for consumers and trusted intermediaries, on topics such as remittances, accessing credit, discrimination, housing and mortgages. Information in Spanish, Creole and other languages.
Identifying and addressing the financial needs of immigrants
Learn more about the financial needs of immigrants including bank account access, language access, predatory actors in the financial marketplace and, building a credit history.
Your Money, Your Goals
Read through resources for practitioners serving economically vulnerable or underserved communities to help a community members understand their options in situations such as:
- Opening a bank account
- Comparing financial service providers
- Choosing how to get paid
- Protecting your identity, avoiding fraud and scams
CFPB Complaint Portal
File complaints about a wide range of financial products and services (remittances, bank accounts, payday loans, credit cards and credit reports, overdraft fees, mortgages, vehicle loans, etc.) by phone in over 180 languages.
Consumer Complaint Database
Search by zip code and state, etc. to see patterns of complaints related to certain products or companies.
Glossary of common financial terms in Spanish
This glossary can be helpful for groups creating their own financial inclusion materials, or legal services providers serving Spanish-speakers.
Our team would be happy to present any combination of this information, in person or virtually, if you see areas of common interest or would like to learn more. An important goal is to make sure that trusted intermediaries – like community foundations – know where they can turn for credible, unbiased, up-to-date information on these financial topics.”
For more information about how your foundation can help your multilingual communities have access to these services, you can go to https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ or contact Jill at jill.wheeler@cfpb.gov.
