Welcome Valerie Osgood-Sutton to the Innovation Lab

Valerie is our new CareerAdvance® Research Coordinator with the Innovation Lab at CAP.  I have recently joined the Innovation Lab as the new CareerAdvance® Research Coordinator. It has been a slight career change for me as I spent the previous two and a half years as a teacher in an Early Head Start classroom. However [...]

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Guest Blog: The 2012 Assets and Opportunities Scorecard: Oklahoma Ranks 33rd for Financial Stability of Residents

As part of a new project at CAP, each month we will be featuring a guest blogger from across the agency.  Amy Amatucci, Senior Fund Development Specialist, is our sixth blogger. Last month the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) and OK Policy co-released the 2012 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, which shows that more than one in four [...]

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2012 CAP Free Tax Prep Information

It is that time of year again!  CAP’s free tax preparation program is in full swing at three sites across Tulsa.  Families who make $50,000 or less are eligible for free tax preparation with our IRS-certified volunteers.  In addition to free tax preparation services two sites, Exchange Center and Pine & Lewis BOK, have checking and savings account enrollment available, which will help you receive [...]

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Guest Blog: Budgeting…It’s Personal and for Everyone

As part of a new project at CAP, each month we will be featuring a guest blogger from across the agency.  These guest posts will cover a myriad of topics chosen by the guest blogger.  I am excited to see what everyone produces.  Pat Douthitt, Financial Analyst in CAP’s Accounting Department, is our first guest [...]

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Economic Mobility in the US, Now and in the Future

When my friends ask me about my job or what CAP does, I have a short elevator speech about ending the cycle of poverty by helping families become more economically mobile.  Some of my friends politely nod and smile, much like I do when my engineer friends try to explain their jobs.  Others have questions; they are curious about the [...]

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Winter Weather Reading Rundown

Wow!  The weather here in Oklahoma has been crazy the last 2 weeks.  We have experienced 75 and sunny, record snow fall, record lows (Can you believe it was colder here than the South Pole?), and back to 70 and sunny.  During the days stuck in my apartment during Snowpocalypse 2011, I had time to [...]

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Exciting Opportunity in CAP’s Innovation Lab

As many of our regular readers know, the Innovation Lab acts as CAP’s research and development team.  We develop deep understandings about our clients, research promising new practices and theories, and work with partners to develop new programs and services.  Over the last couple of years, the Innovation Lab has launched several exciting programs to serve [...]

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Rent Payments to be Included in Credit Files!

 Lack of access to affordable credit is one difficulty faced by low-income Americans.  Of course, there are those who lack access because of poor financial decision-making and poor credit history, but many others are denied access because they do not have enough credit history.  These people are described as having a thin credit file.  A [...]

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Inequality in Child Well-Being

Last month, UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre released is 9th Report Card entitled The Children Left Behind: A league table of inequality in child well-being in the world’s rich countries.  The report looks at the question, “how far behind are children being allowed to fall?” for 24 of the world’s richest countries.  In order to answer [...]

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Serving the Unbanked and Underbanked

I have mentioned previously that I am working on ways to serve the unbanked and underbanked segments of the community.  One important aspect of serving these two segments is to understand their reasons for being outside of the financial mainstream.  Without this type of information it is difficult to design products and services to reach these groups. [...]

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