U S Department of Treasury : State of the Union: Cabinet in Your Community, Department of Treasury

In the days immediately following the State of the Union, Cabinet officials are embarking on the 'State of the Union: Cabinet In Your Community' road tour to engage Americans in small towns, big cities and Indian country about the advancements the Administration has made on the most important issues facing the American people, as well as the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. The President made clear in his State of the Union address that the true test is not the challenges we face, but how we approach those challenges. That's why he and his Cabinet will keep their feet on the gas in this final stretch to continue driving toward solutions that will move this country forward for generations to come, while highlighting the progress that has been made over the past seven years.

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After President Obama delivered the State of the Union address, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew traveled to Atlanta, GA on Thursday, January 14 to highlight the growing economy and important steps we can take to cement our recovery. Secretary Lew also highlighted Treasury's financial inclusion initiatives, myRA, and other measures that can empower everyday Americans to grow a business, improve their family's financial health, and plan for a secure retirement. In Atlanta, Secretary Lew joined Mayor Kasim Reed at Georgia Tech's Advanced Technology Development Center to promote myRA, held a roundtable with local business leaders, and delivered remarks on financial inclusion at the Operation Hope Global Forum.

Specifically, Secretary Lew explained that:

· Over the last two years, our businesses have created jobs at the fastest rate since the 1990s and the unemployment rate has declined at the fastest rate in thirty years, but more work needs to be done to give everyone a fair shot at opportunity. There are commonsense steps Congress can take like approving the Trans-Pacific Partnership to open up new markets and support higher-paying American jobs or providing tax relief to families with kids in child care or with two working spouses.

· We are working to identify strategies that will make our financial system more inclusive and better connect individuals and enterprises to safe and affordable financial products and services.

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Far too many Americans do not have savings for a rainy day, let alone what they need for a secure retirement. Treasury recently launched myRA, a new simple, safe and affordable starter retirement program designed for the nearly one-third of American workers without access to a retirement savings plan through their employer. myRA removes common barriers to saving - it has no fees, no risk of losing money and no minimum balance or contribution requirements. People can visit myRA.gov to sign up to get started.

o Treasury is partnering with public and private stakeholders to help young people develop the habit of managing their finances through youth products.

o Treasury launched the Financial Empowerment Innovation Fund to invest in research projects that are developing, testing, and evaluating new ways public, private, and non-profit entities can assist Americans make financial decisions and obtain safe and affordable financial services.

o Treasury will continue to promote and encourage financial inclusion through the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. CDFIs are helping underserved communities facilitate investments in businesses and organizations that will help local economies grow. CDFIs provide retail banking services in low-income communities, and this unprecedented growth will expand safe and affordable financial products and services

o To support broader access to safe and affordable financial products, the CDFI Fund proposes to fund the Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) program and a new Small Dollar Loan program in FY 2017. This funding will encourage CDFIs to address the issue of predatory lending in their communities and provide an alternative to payday lenders.

Secretary Lew's event in Atlanta also highlighted the progress we have made together to bounce back from the financial crisis and rebuilding our economy.

• When President Obama took office, our country was losing almost 800,000 jobs a month. American businesses have now added 14.1 million jobs over 70 straight months, extending the longest streak on record. The unemployment rate has been cut in half from its peak during the crisis to 5 percent today, its lowest level since early 2008.

• Thanks to President Obama's leadership, our response to the crisis helped prevent a second Great Depression by stabilizing a collapsing financial system, moving quickly to save the auto industry from collapse, helping American families avoid foreclosure, and restarting the markets that provide mortgage, auto, student, and small business loans.

• President Obama fought to make our financial system safer and more resilient. In response to the financial crisis, he championed and signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law - a sweeping set of reforms that have put in place the strongest consumer protections in history, made our financial system safer and more transparent, and given our regulators more effective tools to do their jobs.

• The Dodd-Frank, for the first time, created a consumer financial watchdog - the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) - whose sole job is looking out for consumers by protecting them from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices by mortgage lenders, payday lenders, and debt collectors. Wall Street Reform also brought greater oversight and transparency to the $600 trillion derivatives market, shedding light on complex derivatives transactions and reducing the web of interconnections between firms that existed before the crisis. And it has helped put the financial system on a firmer foundation by promoting greater resiliency, curbing excessive risk-taking, and fostering improved regulatory coordination.

• Last spring, the Department of Labor proposed new rules that would ensure that Americans doing the hard work of saving for retirement are protected from harmful conflicts of interest and receive investment advice that is in their best interest.

• With no fees, risk, minimum balance, or contribution requirements, myRA removes barriers to saving for the millions of working Americans who lack access to a retirement savings plan at work. The program alone will not solve the nation's retirement savings gap, but it will be an important stepping stone for encouraging and creating a nation of savers.

• The CDFI Fund has awardedmore than $2 billion across the country since it was created. In many communities, CDFI funding has been the only source of capital making an enormous difference from housing, health care, and business creation to job training, real estate development, and business services.

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