Global Citizenship Report 2017

Cities for Citizenship is another example of our support for organizations working to improve lives in local communities. Since 2014, Citi Community Development has partnered with the mayors of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City, as well as the Center for Popular Democracy and the National Partnership for New Americans, on this nonpartisan national initiative to provide naturalization resources to the estimated 8.8 million legal U.S. residents eligible for citizenship and to encourage cities to invest in citizenship programs. About half of those eligible for citizenship are low-income, and becoming a naturalized citizen can improve access to higher-paying jobs, increasing salary by as much as 11 percent. As a founding corporate partner of Cities for Citizenship, we have worked with municipalities and nonprofit organizations across the country to expand natu- ralization and financial inclusion programs and to provide access to legal assistance, microloans and financial counsel- ing. Since its launch, Cities for Citizenship has grown from three to 42 member cities and counties. Citi and the Citi Foundation regularly work with community organizations to amplify their impact. In 2015, the Citi Foundation launched the Community Progress Makers Fund — a two-year, $20 million initiative to help local change-makers scale and innovate. Forty grantees received general operat- ing support grants of $500,000 over two years, plus access to skills-based, pro-bono Citi volunteer teams and a network of technical experts. To date, these grantee organizations have helped more than 14,700 low-income people secure financial assets, placed over 25,000 people in affordable housing and connected nearly 2,000 young people to jobs in their communities. Based on the success of the program, in 2017, the Citi Foundation announced the expansion of the Community Progress Makers Fund with an additional $20 million invest- ment for nonprofits across six U.S. cities. The expansion will provide general operating support grants to organizations working on economic challenges facing low-income commu- nities in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City and Washington D.C. Grantees will be announced in 2018. Val Smith, Managing Director of Global Corporate Sustainability, speaking at the second-annual C40 Financing Sustainable Cities Forum FINANCING SUSTAINABLE CITIES INITIATIVE About 54 percent of the global population lives in cities today, and, according to the UN, that number is expected to rise to 66 percent by 2050 . 2 Much of this shift will happen in the developing world, and inter- national collaboration is needed to meet the needs of growing populations in a climate-safe and inclusive way. Since 2015, the Citi Foundation has worked in part- nership with the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and C40 Cities to implement the Financing Sustainable Cities Initiative, which aims to help accel- erate the pace of financing for sustainable solutions in cities. Over the last two years, the Initiative has supported more than 100 cities in advancing clean energy and transportation projects. Together, in 2017, we hosted the second-annual C40 Financing Sustainable Cities Forum along with the Greater London Authority. The event brought together global leaders in sustainable city finance at London City Hall to share successful business models and discuss new solutions to accelerate investment in more prosperous, inclusive and sustainable cities. 2 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2014 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects: Highlights (July 2014), page 1, https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf. Citi 2017 Global Citizenship Report 93 CONTENTS    INTRODUCTION    HOW WE DO BUSINESS    SOLUTIONS FOR IMPACT     APPENDICES Environmental Finance    Inclusive and Resilient Communities