Advancing Hope at the Local Level: Children’s Savings Accounts

Cities, towns and villages across the country are looking for answers to critical questions like how they can develop and grow their local workforce and put residents on a path to long-term opportunity and financial stability. One solution to these challenges is operating or supporting a Children’s Savings Account (CSA) program.

CSAs are long-term savings or investment accounts designed to help children save for post-secondary education. Municipalities nationwide are playing a critical role in implementing CSA programs in their communities. Research has found that low- to moderate-income students with savings as low as between $1 to $499 intended for education after high school are three times more likely to enroll and four times more likely to graduate from post-secondary education.

By leveraging the power of CSAs, local leaders can strengthen child literacy programs, guaranteed income programs, efforts to address the racial wealth divide and help more youth attain post-secondary credentials or degrees. Brief topics include:

• best practices for operating a municipal csa
• funding sources
• incorporating csas into other city programs and priorities
• national resource partners
• program incentives
• typical municipal csa program

Read this NLC brief to learn more about children’s savings accounts programs and the positive impact they can have in your community.