Workers Centers

Enlace is participating in a pilot project for a stored value card to strengthen workers centers and to benefit low-wage workers who are excluded from having banking accounts.  Enlace is coordinating the participation of member the Workplace Project.  IDEPSCA and the Pilipino Workers Center are participating through other networks.

IDEPSCA participating through the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and the Pilipino Workers Center through the Center for Community Change (CCC).  If the pilot project is successful, the program can be expanded to other Enlace member workers centers.

More than 15 million families in United States do not have checking or savings accounts in a bank. Almost half of them are refused because they are young, new workers in the country, or undocumented; this seriously limits them from creating savings and they become vulnerable to loans with high interests and other immoral financial practices.

With stored value cards people will be able to send money to their home country, pay bills, save money, and increase their financial knowledge. The card can benefit the workers centers also by allowing them to formalize their membership base through creating a system of dues collection and, in the long term, generate a stable source of income from low cost transactions fees on the card.

Goals of Stored Value Card Project:
· Develop worker centers and other community-based organizations into a major distribution network for a low-cost pre-paid debit card program
· Provide financial literacy and cost savings for hundreds of thousands of low wage families.  It will protect their communities from the exorbitant fees charged to the working poor by banks and other financial institutions, enabling them to begin to build assets.
· Increase civic participation through worker centers. It will strengthen the worker centers by allowing them to formalize their membership bases through the establishment of a reliable system of membership dues collection, and, over time, generate a steady income stream from low-cost fees.

The other national networks participating in the project are NDLON, Interfaith Worker Justice’s Worker Center Network, and CCC.  Community Financial Resources is providing financial expertise for the project.