The Center for Working Families (CWF), launched in 2014, supports low-income Boston residents in building financial security through tailored services like financial education, job training, and credit-building. CWF partners with stakeholders to provide year-round support, particularly for low- and moderate-income communities of color.
Bank On Boston, part of CWF, offers residents access to safe financial products and services. In 2024, Bank On Boston helped over 200 youth workers open bank accounts and receive direct deposit payments. Looking ahead to Summer 2025, Bank On Boston will employ Young Money Mentors from Boston Public Schools. These mentors will gain financial literacy and career insights while providing peer-to-peer mentorship on personal finance.
This initiative aims to foster financial knowledge and confidence, addressing inequities by meeting youth where they are and empowering them to manage their own money.
In Summer 2025 under the supervision of Bank On Boston, the Young Money Mentors will expand their knowledge of personal finance, explore career pathways in financial empowerment, and provide peer to peer mentorship on personal finance and banking to other youth workers in the futureBOS ecosystem. Throughout the summer, the Young Money Mentors will learn more about personal finance and have opportunities to explore career pathways in personal finance. They will attend lectures and workshops from financial industry professionals, learning in-depth about money management and the financial industry. The Young Money Mentors will also have the opportunity to meet with professionals currently working in the finance and financial empowerment industries to learn about their jobs, career trajectory and their work impact in the community.
The Young Money Mentors will also spend a portion of their summer employment planning activities and creating materials to provide workshops on Personal Finance to their peers; other youth workers in Boston. Once their workshop materials are completed and approved by Bank On Boston staff, the Young Money Mentors will join Bank On Boston staff members in providing financial education workshops to youth workers in the futureBOS ecosystem. Peer mentorship can be an extremely effective tool in youth financial education, and this youth financial peer mentoring program model was derived from similar successful models in Summer Youth Employment Programs in New York City and Chicago.
Bank On Boston recognizes that impacting financial inequity and helping households develop economic security requires building trust in the community and meeting residents where they are. The goal of Bank On Bostons youth program is to foster knowledge and confidence in young workers as they begin to earn and manage their own money.
