Under the ACCESS umbrella, communitywide resources are leveraged and maximized, tapping into various budgets, and resource pools in all three sectors. And as diversification is the foundation of most any successful financial portfolio, the City of Miami has established a diverse collection of public, private and nonprofit partners that have just as diverse infrastructures, resources, clientele, budgets and specialties. These partners include in alphabetical order:

Bank of America

Bank of America is a newly formed local partner with the City of Miami in terms of financial literacy community outreach. Presently, Bank of America and the City have partnered to provide a train the trainer workshop on Credit Reports with CCCS and are coordinating train the trainer workshops on consumer home buying, predatory lending and other lending related financial education. In addition to committing valuable knowledge and resources, Bank of America has been providing facilities, and curriculum assistance for various workshops.

BankUnited

BankUnited, the largest bank headquartered in Florida, is proud to contribute to the success of the communities we serve. In Miami-Dade County, BankUnited is an ACCESS Miami community partner. In 2006, BankUnited provided onsite account-opening services at the Orange Bowl Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site, which saved filers time and fees related to cashing their refund checks. BankUnited staff assisted VITA program participants by guiding them through the account opening process prior to completing their taxes and answering questions they had.

Bilingual Parent Outreach Program (BPOP)

The Bilingual Parent Outreach Program, a division of Miami-Dade County Public School System, provides educational material to more than 25,000 newly arrived immigrant families annually. Recognizing the prevalence of the immigrant community in Miami and realizing the need to reach out directly to those newly arrived immigrants that struggle to understand our economic system and financial institutions, the City of Miami ensures that all its financial literacy offerings are made available to BPOP facilitators. BPOP offers monthly classes that are conducted by their own trainers. This is a very valuable resource to the City in terms of outreach and qualified personnel and thus, BPOP facilitators have been invited to and participated in nearly all of the financial education events led by the City over the last year.

Citibank

Citibank has made available all of their financial education classes to Parent Academy participants and published Citibank classes in the Parent Academy class schedule. Citibank has altered the location of their classes from local branches to schools in order to make them more accessible.

Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS)

CCCS is a trusted partner with the City and has assisted the Dollar Wi$e Campaign in a number of ways. In conjunction with the City and Bank of America, CCCS conducted a train the trainer event for nearly 60 participants on Credit Reports, which was very well received by participants and forged a new relationship between the City and Bank of America. CCCS has also conducted financial education workshops for City employees and remains a referral destination for City residents and organizations that require personal financial assistance.

Florida Jump$tart

The City of Miami and Florida Jump$tart partnered to provide a full day of financial education for public school teachers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The event trained 60 teachers on subjects such as personal financial education programs, identity theft, investments and financial planning, personal money management, and credit. Other contributors to the event’s success included the Florida Counsel on Economic Education, McGraw-Hill Companies, InCharge Institute, IRS, Raymond James Financial, and Colonial Bank.

H&R Block

In 2004, a successful partnership with the nation’s largest tax preparation firm H&R Block, offered discounted services to residents who qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit. The company extended the opportunity for filers to open an IRA as well – an option over 350 City residents took advantage of in 2004. In an agreement between H&R Block and the City, Block no longer markets or promotes Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) to City residents – loans that included a substantial fee.

InCharge Institute

InCharge Institute is a national non-profit community organization specializing in personal finance education and credit counseling. They have conducted multiple financial literacy train the trainer workshops as part of the City Dollar Wi$e Campaign. InCharge has provided both facilitators and curriculum to the effort. Those trained by InCharge as part of the campaign include students, representatives from community and faith based organizations, private institutions, public school teachers, and trainers from the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Bilingual Parent Outreach Program.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

The IRS has assisted with both our financial literacy outreach efforts and local EITC awareness campaign. They contributed to the logistical coordination of our first educational workshop, a financial literacy seminar that targeted EITC filers. IRS's continued support of the City’s EITC public awareness campaign included radio spots, public service announcements, marketing materials, brochures, and the training of phone center and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) staff, as well as reporting City specific results for continued development of the program.  You may file for your Economic Stimulus Payment for free.  Click here.  If you have questions about eligibility requirements, please visit the Economic Stimulus Payment Information Center for information.

Mercy Hospital

Mercy Hospital has been serving the healthcare needs of South Florida for over 50 years. As a comprehensive healthcare facility, Mercy offers a full range of services to the residents of Miami-Dade county and surrounding communities. A 473-bed acute care facility, Mercy Hospital is accredited by Joint Commission. Mercy is affiliated with over 700 physicians representing 27 medical specialties. Its Centers of Excellence include: The Heart Center at Mercy Hospital, the Miami Cancer Center at Mercy Hospital, Minimally Invasive Surgical Institute and the Orthopaedic Institute at Mercy Hospital.

As Miami-Dade County’s only Catholic hospital, Mercy Hospital is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, Florida and is part of Catholic Health East. Since its inception in 1950, Mercy Hospital has maintained its reputation for excellence while following the Catholic tradition of caring for God’s people and providing spiritual support.   Mercy Hospital is the proud recipient of HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award™ (2003-2004, 2006-2009) and HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award™ (2007-2009).  Mercy Hospital is dedicated to providing excellent medical care, while remaining true to its mission of caring for the physical and spiritual needs of all the people it serves. 

Get to know us and you'll see we take care of everyone who walks through our doors…starting with our employees. Throughout our 473-bed, Magnet™ designated facility, we strive to fulfill our mission by calling on the unique talents of 2,000 professionals, collaborating across 27 specialty areas and four Centers of Excellence. Join us here to share in the amazing stories of hope and healing that happen every day.  To find out more about job opportunities at Mercy Hospital, please visit our career site:  www.jobs.mercymiami.org

Miami-Dade College

Miami-Dade College is a long standing partner with the City on financial literacy education. The College provides campus locations, promotes events with student participation, and the provision of specialized faculty to assist with workshop facilitation.

Mortgage Bankers Association (Campus MBA)

The City has partnered with the MBA to provide a Consumer Homebuyer Train-the-Trainer workshop series in both English and Spanish facilitated by an MBA trainer. The first of these three events, which occurred in July 2005, included participation from CBOs, FBOs, mortgage lenders, financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, and homeowners associations. This first event introduced participants to the subject and a second event, scheduled for mid-December, will be a comprehensive workshop that certifies participants as ACCESS Miami trainers, establishing a stronger working relationship of accountability and joint ownership between the trainers and the City. A third event, similar to the second, but in Spanish, is scheduled for early next year.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools/The Parent Academy

The Parent Academy is a new initiative recently implemented countywide by the Office of the Superintendent. The goal of The Parent Academy is “to help parents become full partners in their children’s education” by helping them to enrich their own lives through a variety of educational opportunities. To date, the City and the Academy have combined forces to make practical financial literacy classes available to Academy participants focusing on issues such as basic banking practices, personal credit, homeownership, credit management, managing money, saving and investing. The “campus” of The Parent Academy is spread throughout every corner of our community, and may be housed in schools, private business, and public libraries and even on-line. The Academy assists participants with child care and transportation. 

National League of Cities

The Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute), a special entity within the National League of Cities (NLC), helps municipal leaders take action on behalf of the children, youth, and families in their communities. The YEF Institute is a national resource, providing guidance and assistance to municipal officials, compiling and disseminating information on promising strategies and best practices, building networks of local officials working on similar issues and concerns, and conducting research on the key challenges facing municipalities in these core program areas. In 2005, the YEF Institute selected Miami as a model for city-supported asset-building efforts and highlighted Mayor Manuel A. Diaz's leadership to support local initiatives. In early 2006, the YEF Institute brought a team of city leaders, city staff, and community-based representatives to Miami to showcase the city's comprehensive asset-building work. The City of Miami continues to serve as faculty for the YEF Institute's Cities Helping Families Build Assets Project and receives periodic technical assistance from NLC staff.

U.S. Conference of Mayors

The Mayors' National Dollar Wi$e Campaign is an initiative of the United States Conference of Mayors' Council for the New American City. Through this effort, the Conference of Mayors encourages mayors, community leaders, and nonprofit organizations to establish community financial education programs focusing on the core components of education, savings, credit card management, and homeownership. The national Dollar Wi$e program supports local campaigns by providing and suggesting curriculum materials, connecting local campaigns to national organizations that promote financial literacy, and offering material and financial support. The City of Miami has been a member of Dollar Wi$e since 2005. In early 2006, Miami became one of the first recipients of a Dollar Wi$e Capacity Grant. This grant has supported expanding ACCESS Miami's Train-the-Trainer and Parent Academy program.

The Inner City Economic Forum

The Inner City Economic Forum is the country's only national leadership network focused on business-led inner city economic development. The Forum was founded in 2003 as an ambitious and bold effort to create a national movement around the revitalization of America’s inner cities. It has emerged as a powerful mechanism for generating innovative ideas on inner city economic development and transforming ideas into action.

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