eileen a. auld - Networking Magazine

EILEEN A. AULD
Citi Community Development Market Director
for the New York Tri State Region
A Corporate Commitment to Improving Lives
STORY BY SALLY GILHOOLEY • PHOTOS COURTESY OF CITI MEDIA SERVICES
12 NETWORKING® October 2014
A
s Citi Community Development Market Director for the New York Tri-State
Region (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut), Eileen A. Auld helps
lead Citi’s commitment to empower low- and moderate-income
individuals by forging innovative partnerships to support financial capability,
small business creation and growth, and neighborhood revitalization efforts.
The Queens native joined Citi eleven years ago after serving as Assistant
Commissioner of Community Affairs for the New York City Police Department
since 1998. For the public-spirited Auld, her role as Community Development
Market Director is a natural fit. Auld credits her humanitarian philosophy to her
years of service with the police department, where she leveraged the department’s
resources to understand community needs and launch meaningful programs.
Community Commitment
In an interview with Networking® magazine, Auld shared that Citi’s focus areas
include financial capability
and economic
empowerment,
neighborhood preservation
and revitalization, and small
business and microfinance
development. Citi
prioritizes being a thought
leader and working with
partners to develop,
improve, and expand
programs. Auld said, “By
building strong
relationships with
communities and
community leaders, we
learn what needs exist and
how we can be a partner in
creating solutions. We sit
Devastation from Superstorm Sandy.
down at the table with our
Above: Island Park, below: Breezy Point
non-profit and municipal partners to
understand the challenges they may
be facing, and we support programs
to empower underserved individuals
and neighborhoods.”
Superstorm Sandy Relief
“Citi strives to be a flexible and
nimble partner,” Auld observed.
“When Superstorm Sandy devastated
communities on the south shore of
Long Island and Queens, Brooklyn,
lower Manhattan, and New Jersey,
we focused very quickly to
determine how we could support
nonprofit partners and municipalities
that were trying desperately to
deliver services in hard-hit areas.”
Since the storm, Citi has provided
more than $3 million in grants and
contributions to over 50 community
partners in the New York Tri-State
region. The programs support
emergency response, recovery, and
resiliency efforts to get these communities up and running again.
In Long Beach, for example, Citi continues to concentrate its efforts and
investments on helping the community recover. Citi has supported the
development of a tourism campaign to draw people from across New York City
back to Long Beach’s shores and shops, which will help to stimulate the local
economy.
“Citi has been in the Long Beach community for more than 24 years. After
Superstorm Sandy, we were very committed to re-opening our Long Beach
branch,” said Auld. “Today, that branch is open and it’s beautiful and vibrant.
”Citi’s post-Sandy response also focused on Far Rockaway. According to Auld,
“After the storm, Citi was one of the catalysts for bringing City agencies together
to restore a small merchant strip between the ocean and the bay. It had been
absolutely devastated. We worked with the City of New York and committed
$400,000 to launch a Storefront Improvement Program that proved to be highly
successful.” Auld noted that Citi also partnered with the City of New York to
launch a grant program that provided $5,000 grants, administered by the NYC
Department of Small Business Services, to affected storeowners to replace
equipment or furniture damaged by the storm.
Auld added that, as one of the lead sponsors, Citi worked closely with the New
York City Housing and Neighborhood Recovery Donors Collaborative, a unique
partnership of foundations, donors, and financial institutions. The collaborative
provided funding to 33 non-profits to work on relief, recovery and resiliency
efforts. Citi also organized volunteers to work on post-Sandy recovery projects.
Auld, who has a home in Breezy Point (a neighborhood where every home
was affected by the storm and the ensuing fire), said things are getting better
there as well.
Oscar Santana, Deputy Director of Emergency Response,
Jessica Taylor, Executive Director Performance Management
SBS, Robert Walsh, former Commissioner NYC Dept. of
Small Business Services (SBS), Eileen Auld, NY Tri-State
Market Director, Edward Odom, VP NY Tri-State Market on
Beach 116th Street in the Rockaways
Citizenship As An Asset
An important focus for Citi is working with
immigrant populations across New York City, Long
Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey to create a roadmap
to financial security. In New York City alone, immigrants
account for 37% of the population and 26% of the
workforce. Long Island has the largest suburban
population of immigrants in the United States.
Citi is focused on building inclusive cities, which
means launching and supporting programs that empower low-income
individuals—including immigrants—to establish stable financial foundations and
gain access to economic opportunities. Auld explained, “We believe city economies
are healthiest when everyone has the opportunity to participate. Citi wants to
support low- and moderate-income individuals in building their financial
identities. For eligible permanent residents, obtaining citizenship is a key step on
this road.
“Citizenship is a means to economic security for immigrants and their families. It
opens doors for better employment and homeownership opportunities and, for
children of immigrant families, the opportunity to partake of grants or
scholarships to attend college. These opportunities strengthen economic security,
and they also contribute to the economy of our cities as well,” she said.
Auld clarified that Citi is focused on working with non-profit and municipal
partners to embed financial capability and empowerment in citizenship assistance
programs. “The naturalization application fee is $680. Sometimes, individuals
EILEEN A. AULD
don’t realize that their income levels actually qualify them for a fee waiver. If they
don’t qualify for the waiver, Citi partners with credit unions to offer microloans to
cover the fee. Citi makes sure to complement the microloan with financial
education. We don’t want individuals or families to take loans and be unprepared
for the responsibility of paying it back.”
Citi supports naturalization and financial capability
programs for legal permanent residents in various parts of the
New York Tri-State Region. Auld shared, “In the five
boroughs, Citi supports a highly successful program called
NYCitizenship in Schools with the Mayor’s Office of
Immigrant Affairs. For the last two years, the program has
focused on reaching parents in the New York City school
system. This was a strategic focus: if parents naturalize, all of
their children under the age of 18 can naturalize as well. By
making naturalization legal and financial assistance available
within their children’s school, parents come to recognize the
school as a trusted one-stop shop to access services. Citi felt it
was very important to work with a partner in a trusted,
familiar space.”
On Long Island, Citi supports a program called Pathways to
Citizenship Long Island. “This program has been up and
running for about four months and has been highly successful,” said Auld. “It is
similar to the New York City program in its provision of legal and financial
assistance for citizenship. One aspect that makes this Long Island program unique
is its support for re-credentialing,” explained Auld. “If someone comes from
another country and he or she has a teaching degree in their country but doesn’t
have the requirements to teach here in the United States, the program provides
assistance and resources to help them get re-credentialed. ”
Beyond Affordable Housing
Citi is the leading affordable housing lender in the United States. On Long
Island, Citi works with the Long Island Housing Partnership to support the
development of affordable housing. According to Auld, the largest finance deal
ever done in New York City was negotiated between Citi and the New York City
Housing Authority (NYCHA).
Citi is also broadening its approach towards complementing affordable housing.
Auld said, “We have worked for many years to provide services focused on
affordable housing. It is very clear, however, that affordable housing alone isn’t
enough. There are families that have been living in affordable housing for years but
they have not been able to access
economic opportunities for
themselves and their families. Citi is
focused on creating neighborhoods of
opportunity for all residents.”
Small Business Growth
Citi is also working to ensure lowincome entrepreneurs receive the
assistance and education they need to
start and grow small businesses. Auld
said, “Citi wants to help low-income
small business owners to grow their
enterprises, which results in increased
economic opportunity and job
creation.” Citi has supported various
programs with the NYC Department
of Small Business Services, as well as
dozens of entrepreneurship and small
business development programs
offered by nonprofit partners across
New York, Connecticut, and New
Jersey.
In New York City, Citi has
partnered with Grameen America, a
501(c)(3) nonprofit microfinance
organization, that provides small
business loans to low-income
entrepreneurs. Auld said, “One
hundred percent of Grameen’s
clientele are women. Grameen
provides micro-loans to these women,
and Citi provided them with the
opportunity to open a bank account
without a fee, empowering them to
save as they grow their microbusinesses. To date, we have opened
11,724 no-cost savings accounts for
Grameen members.”
Financial Empowerment
Financial empowerment is a
longstanding priority for Citi
Community Development. Citi
partners with high-impact
organizations to support financial
education and coaching throughout
the region. On Long Island, Citi
works with United Way of Long
Island to educate the Island’s
underserved residents on financial
matters. In New York City, Citi has worked extensively with the NYC Office of
Financial Empowerment (OFE) to connect low-income individuals with financial
capability services. “We are proud of the fact that Citi was one of OFE’s first
private supporters when they opened Financial Empowerment Centers,” said
Auld. “There are now about 30 centers in New York City where
individuals can get free one-on-one financial counseling. If
someone has a financial concern, he or she can sit down with a
qualified, trained counselor to go over finances, develop a
budget, and work on credit repair. They can go back to the
counselor as many times as necessary for assistance.”
Citi has also invested in infusing financial education into
other services. Auld described this approach as highly
impactful, stating, “If a nonprofit partner already works with
individuals to provide access to social services, there is a great
opportunity to introduce financial education and coaching.
When individuals meet with a caseworker, that caseworker can
refer them to resources to access financial education and
coaching. Or, the caseworker can be trained to provide that
education directly.”
As Citi’s Community Development Market Director for the
New York Tri-State Region, Auld said of her position, “I am
very fortunate to have this opportunity. I have a wonderful team on the ground
with me. We are committed to creating innovative, scalable programs through
partnerships with nonprofit and our municipal partners. I think Citi is a great
corporate citizen,” she concluded.
Auld serves on the board of the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local
Development Corporation and the New York City Change Capital Fund. She is
also a member of the President’s Council for the Food Bank for New York City, and
she is an appointed member of the New York City Workforce Investment Board.
She graduated with honors from Queens College earning a degree in business
management and a Bachelor of Science degree in Urban Studies. Auld is also a
graduate of Columbia University Business School, Police Management Institute. ■
“Citi wants to help
low-income small
business owners to
grow their enterprises,
which results in
increased economic
opportunity and job
creation.”
NETWORKING® October 2014 13
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accounts and does business in more than 100 countries and jurisdictions. For more
information go to www.citigroup.com.