Menin on declining financial counseling outcomes
Menin raises concerns about dropping financial counseling success rates from 21.1% to 17.3% and 6% fewer clients served. Levine attributes some decline to shortened measurement timeframe and emphasizes wanting more New Yorkers to use services.
I want to switch gears to financial counseling, and then I'm going to pass it over to Chair Lee.
So the percentage of DCWP financial counseling clients achieving a financial goal within their first year dropped from 21.1% in fiscal year 25 to 17.3%
in fiscal year 26, which is the lowest rate in at least three years.
And well below the agency's directional target to improve this figure.
The number of clients served also fell by 6%.
Given the administration's stated affordability agenda, what does the fiscal 2020
27 executive budget include specifically for this program and what is driving the deteriorating outcome rates?
Yeah, well, let me start by saying financial empowerment centers serve thousands of New Yorkers every year.
You know, with respect to the outcomes on the MMR, the time frame was shortened to a year.
Many of our clients are looking for longer-term financial help where we just don't have data.
So not all of the benefits that our clients in the financial empowerment centers realize are...
Come through in that data because it's a longer term estimate.
As a general matter though, Speaker, I completely agree.
We want to get more New Yorkers using our financial empowerment centers.
We have capacity, we have wonderful partners all over New York City.
We want people getting in the door.
Many of our staff have used these counselors, gotten outstanding results.
We want more New Yorkers to benefit.
In terms of the budget, I don't know if you have that handy for financial empowerment.
We are targeting an increase.
It's going to be FY26.
It's $4.8 million.
I would also, I appreciate the Commissioner's point about our staff using our services as well.
We're very proud of the financial empowerment centers.
We've even had two commissioners that have had their student loan debt forgiven through our financial empowerment centers.
And since the exemption, we've increased our savings for New Yorkers by $15.6 million, and we've helped reduce debt by $135 million.
So it's a fundamental program for the agency.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
I'm going to turn it over to back to Chair Lee.
Actually, perfect segue.