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NYC Administration for Children's Services: The City's child welfare agency, dedicated to protecting children and strengthening families

YFE Rewards Savings

Even in these difficult financial times, some savvy young people in foster care are doing very well for themselves – saving enough to pay their rent months ahead of time or to start a small business. By participating in a program designed to encourage saving and overall financial know-how, youths taking part in Youth Financial Empowerment are learning financial skills and receiving a 2 to 1 match on their savings if they complete the YFE program.

The ACS Office of Youth Development held the first in a series of orientation sessions on January 12 for youth interested in participating in YFE. The orientation provided information on training to become entrepreneurs, how to be successful as college or vocational students, and how to prepare financially for adulthood as they transition from foster care. The young men and women are also helped to evaluate their current understanding of key financial literacy concepts such as budgeting, spending and saving.

YFE
Celeste Lewis, left, gets some help from Kathryn Lotsos, Clinical Social Worker at NYSPCC, to come up with a list of ways teens may cut down on spending to increase their assets.

Celeste Lewis, left, gets some help from Kathryn Lotsos, Clinical Social Worker at NYSPCC, to come up with a list of ways teens may cut down on spending to increase their assets.

Youths who sign up to participate are expected to attend a six-module financial literacy course, actively save in an Individual Development Account (IDA) (a matched savings account), participate in asset-specific training, and participate in leadership and peer support activities. Those who successfully complete the program will be able to use monies in their IDA to pay expenses related to housing, education or entrepreneurship.

YFE
Amber Figueroa, left and Brittney Allen complete an exercise on some of the pitfalls of spending.

The orientation was conducted by YFE Program Associates Deborah Brooks and Brikener Jean-Gilles. In encouraging the young people to participate, Brooks said one youth in the program will use her savings and match funds to pay her rent for six months; another will buy equipment to start a photography business and three are considering pooling their resources to start a small business. Even more important, Brooks said, “Teens who have completed the program so far have made important behavioral and attitude changes and feel they are better prepared financially for life after foster care.”

YFE is a public-private partnership of Children's Services, The Center for Economic Opportunity, New Yorkers For Children, United Way of New York City, Wells Fargo and Citibank. Under the program, up to 450 youths ages 16-21 will open IDAs at Citibank, where they can save up $1,000 and receive matching funds of up to $2,000. In explaining the benefits of the program, Dominique Jones, Assistant Commissioner in the Office of Youth Development, said that a major goal of YFE is “to make a habit of saving as a way of building assets.”

Additional orientation sessions will be held on February 2, February 23; March 9 and March 23, and April 20. Read more on YFE