Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, and Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Carlos Sada, Launched the Financial Empowerment Window (Ventanilla de Asesoría Financiera) in Los Angeles

11 Mayo 2016, 00:00 AM CDT

The Consulate General of Mexico and the City of Los Angeles joined
with Citi and the Youth Policy Institute to support the economic
empowerment of Mexican nationals and surrounding communities

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Consulate General of Mexico, the City of Los Angeles, Citi and the
Youth Policy Institute (YPI) announced on May 5 the launch of the
Financial Empowerment Window (Ventanilla de Asesoría Financiera),
a program which provides free, culturally and linguistically competent
financial counseling and education resources onsite at the Consulate
General of Mexico in Los Angeles.

The Youth Policy Institute, a nonprofit organization with a
well-developed financial education program that serves Angeleno
families, provides services at the Ventanilla including one-stop
access to information and one-on-one financial consultation on high
priority topics to help Mexicans and the broader Latino community
participate more fully in the American financial system and achieve
greater financial security.

Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, reinforced
the Mexican government´s commitment to look after its immigrants’
well-being in the United States, “We praise the strategy and financial
program that will be practiced in the Ventanilla to help
Angelenos get on a path to financial stability and success.”

The Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Carlos Sada Solana,
confirmed the importance of the Ventanilla at the Mexican
Consulate, “The program is a big step to give free information and
advice to the Mexican community on topics that will help them to achieve
greater financial security and a better understanding of the American
financial system.”

“Growing L.A.’s prosperity means empowering all Angelenos with
information that helps them to shape their own destiny,” said Mayor Eric
Garcetti. “With this expansion of the Ventanilla program,
the largest population of foreign nationals in Los Angeles will gain
access to important financial literacy resources, teaching them valuable
budgeting skills needed to succeed in life.”

This marks the first expansion of the Ventanilla program, which
was first launched at the Consul General of Mexico in New York City in
2014 with the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and
Citi Community Development.

In just two years of operation, the Ventanilla program in New
York City—where the Mexican immigrant population is substantially
smaller than in Los Angeles—provided one-on-one financial counseling to
2,260 clients, hosted more than 40 financial education workshops with
nearly 690 attendees, and distributed more than 44,000 pieces of
financial education literature.

The new Los Angeles Ventanilla, located inside the Consulate’s
premises, promotes financial capability in a trusted space and empower
the Latino population to build positive financial identities to achieve
financial stability that is essential to long-term asset building and
economic security.

“There are more than 1.5 million Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles — a
community larger than the total population of Philadelphia — many of
whom are living outside of the financial mainstream because of language
or other barriers to access,” said Bob Annibale, Global Director of Citi
Community Development and Inclusive Finance. “We are proud to support
the expansion of the Ventanilla program, which provides Mexican
immigrants who are new to the U.S. financial system with access to vital
resources for getting banked, gaining access to free tax prep and the
Earned Income Tax Credit, establishing credit and building a secure
financial future within the trusted and culturally relevant setting of
the Consulate.”

It is estimated that 16,000 Mexican Consulate visitors will receive
financial education or financial coaching services at the Los Angeles Ventanilla
in the first year, as well as gain access to free tax preparation,
matched savings accounts and other financial empowerment services from
YPI.

“In the Promise Zone, the Promise Neighborhood and throughout Los
Angeles, YPI works with young people and families on the path from
cradle to college to career, and financial capability is often the first
step on that path,” said Dixon Slingerland, Executive Director of the
Youth Policy Institute. “The Ventanilla will send a strong signal
to these families and many more throughout Southern California that
there is help to get them on that path—whether that means saving for
college, getting out of debt, or simply having the support of trusted,
mainstream financial services.”

The launch event was attended by Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Claudia
Ruiz Massieu; Ambassador of Mexico to the United States, Carlos Sada
Solana; Chief of Staff of Mayor Eric Garcetti, Ana Guerrero; Senior Vice
President for Southern California of Citi Community Development, James
Alva; Executive Director of Youth Policy Institute, Dixon Slingerland;
and the President and CEO of Southern California Grantmakers, Christine
Essel.

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About Citi

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer
accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions.
Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with
a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer
banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities
brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

About the Youth Policy Institute

Youth Policy Institute has been providing wraparound services to
low-income families in Los Angeles since 1996 and is the only agency in
the country to have been awarded all four of the Obama Administration’s
Neighborhood Revitalization Initiatives: Promise Zones, Promise
Neighborhoods, Choice Neighborhoods, and Byrne Criminal Justice
Innovation. Together, these initiatives form a place-based approach to
fighting poverty, reducing crime, improving educational opportunities
and creating access to jobs that builds on YPI’s decades of history
helping youth and families. For more information, visit www.ypiusa.org
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