Why is New York University Coming to Winston County?

What do Brooklyn and Queens, New York; San Jose, California; Cincinnati, Ohio and Winston County, Ms. have in common? They are all areas that will be part of an intense research study called U.S. Financial Diaries conducted by a group of organizations including the Financial Access Initiative at New York University.

Working with the Center For Financial Services Innovation, Bankable Frontier Associates and in partnership with the Ford and Citi Foundations, NYU will be conducting an in depth, 16 month long project involving multiple low-income families across the county and in the other parts of the country previously mentioned. Families will be interviewed by field researchers on a regular basis concerning finances, purchasing and their needs and struggles to make ends meet. The goal of the research is to identify and publicize lessons about how problems such as poor health, social isolation, access to markets and low work skills can affect family finances. This research is then provided; to firms in the hope that it will provide incite into product needs of the poor; to policymakers that will aid in crafting laws and regulations and to nonprofit organizations so that programs can be designed to serve the needs of the working poor.

Field researchers will begin a training program in Boston, Ma. in August and the program will begin in September 2011 as area families are selected to participate based upon income requirements generally falling between 30-70% of the area’s median income.

Winston County was chosen from among several area counties to participate in the program. The Financial Diaries methodology was previously used for studies outside of the United States in India, Bangladesh and South Africa. We will update our readers as more information becomes available and the project gets underway.

William McCully