Opportunity Passport® is a Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative program at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and is the the gold standard of financial management programs for young adults who grew up in foster care. Voices is proud to be the first independent organization authorized to deliver the program. In 2020, Voices teamed up with United Way Suncoast and Ready for Life, a skill-based learning center serving young adults who are making the difficult transition out of foster care and into independent living. Young adults are matched with a Ready for Life mentor and complete a financial literacy training. Upon completion of the course, participants are paired with a United Way Suncoast Financial Coach with a financial background to help them put the skills they’ve learned into action. The program also matches participants’ savings dollar for dollar up to $3,000 for assets like vehicles, housing and other tools that help maintain stability at work and school. Here’s a closer look at the program:
1. Financial Literacy Training
2. United Way Suncoast Financial Coaching
United Way Suncoast’s Financial Coaching Program provides monthly meetings with trained financial professionals who help young people take the lessons they learned from the financial literacy training and put them into action toward their own budgets and goals! In this video, a graduate takes us on a tour of the apartment she secured with Opportunity Passport and tells us about how her financial coach is helping her to plan for the future.
3. $3,000 in Matched Savings to Buy Assets
Thanks to the support of United Way Suncoast, Voices is able to match young people dollar for dollar to purchase qualifying assets to help them meet their goals. There is no deadline for the program; as long as a young person keeps participating, they are eligible to make savings matches.
Young people purchase vehicles, put deposits on housing, start their own businesses, start retirement savings accounts, credit building, pay off medical debt and more with the program. Here’s how one graduate used the savings match to launch his business:
Thanks to the Morningstar Foundation, young adults receive a $100 stipend to open a bank and account and seed their savings. Participants can also receive $40 stipends for completing routine surveys and bonuses for participating in speaking engagements. One of the most competitive and highly coveted prizes is the Financial Flurry Award, a special treat sent directly to the house of the person who’s homework gets the most votes. Here’s Mimi, our first winner!
The Results
My name is Falana and I wanted to share with you my recent experience and why it’s never too late to start working on your goals. Now, I will say this first lol never rush your goals based off of others accomplishments; do it at your own pace so you don’t feel rushed or overwhelmed about everything. I would like to share a goal of mine that has been heavy/tricky:
My credit has been a battle for at least 10 years, and I just felt like it was time to take care of business and make that my focus and my priority. Now granted, I knew it would take A LOT and I mean A LOT of work but I was truly determined to get it done through all the hardships. Ready for Life, Suncoast Voices for Children and United Way Suncoast started offering a program called Opportunity Passport, which teaches young adults like myself different skills and class courses such as savings, checking, credit building & more. I was really excited to join the class because I was eager to learn everything, especially if I know it can better my future. I went into the class with a plan and graduated from the class learning a lot more that I needed to know and it was one of the best decisions of my life. Upon completing the program, I had an incentive to match what I had saved which could be used for assets such as housing, vehicles, starting a business and again many other resourceful things to help you to become a more self sufficient adult. After graduating the class, I gave myself an assignment: to save up half of what I needed to save and then the remaining balance would be matched to build my credit. I created a small vision board on ways to inspire me to build my credit I turned my vision into a reality. As of April 2021, I paid my credit debt in full!! Now, if you know me, then you would understand this has been a long journey, but I stuck with my plan most importantly I have a wonderful support team who was with me along the way. I want to personally thank all of the volunteers who helped with the program and also Ready for Life and Suncoast Voices for helping me accomplish this goal and also believing in me, especially within the times I didn’t believe in myself. My next goal is to become a homeowner and inspire others to complete one of their goals so they can inspire others as well. I am so thankful for the opportunity that was given to me and I thank you all for helping me to start a better future.
FalanaInterested in joining Opportunity Passport as a young adult, mentor, financial coach or other supporter? Do you have questions about the program? Let us know!
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Address
8550 Ulmerton Road,
Suite 255, Largo, FL 33771
Phone
(727) 582-3609
info@suncoastvoices.org
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