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Innovation Profile: Every Resident a Saver

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Update: August 2010

Dennis has joined the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, MD, as Senior Leadership Fellow in the Center for Family Economic Success.

Update: July 2010

Since his selection in 2009 as CFED’s Friedman Fellow Innovator-in-Residence, Dennis has brokered an agreement with the San Antonio AARP chapter, WellMed Charitable Foundation, the city of San Antonio’s Office of Financial Empowerment, Project QUEST and the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections initiative to create a matched savings program for 11 AARP Foundation students enrolled in WellMed’s Certified Medical Assistant training program. Six of the students are enrolled in the Senior Community Service Employment Program and five are sponsored by the AARP Foundation’s job training stipend program. This agreement will use AARP Foundation funds, federal Assets for Independence Act matching funds for Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), and Casey Foundation grant funds to provide a $4 to $1 match for the portion of the students’ stipends that will be saved in their IDA. Their IDA will pay for their training, leaving them debt-free. WellMed has committed to hiring these graduates, paying the city’s $10.75 per hour living wage (for non-durable goods jobs), plus full benefits. Project QUEST, an Innovations in American Government Award winner, will provide the case management and training supports for the students. In addition to the creation of this matched savings program, Dennis secured the endorsement of the local Citibank Vice President in San Antonio to expand the Cribs to College children’s savings program to a new cohort. Cribs to College is a matched savings program for San Antonio children beginning at birth. It will be financed through the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections program, Citibank, and other local donors.

Dennis has also conferred with the Mayor’s Office on using direct deposit as a cost efficiency measure in the upcoming FY 2011 budget process. Given that the City of San Francisco’s Office of Financial Empowerment estimates that it costs the city $1.75 for every payroll check that is issued and that the City of Houston has gone to mandatory direct deposit, Dennis will be reviewing Houston’s cost efficiencies created by this measure for the San Antonio Mayor’s office.

Lastly, Dennis has been appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to serve on its committee of experts. This committee will consider the challenges and opportunities for low-income families, especially those involved in Head Start and Child Welfare, in building assets.

About the Innovation

Dennis is focused on comprehensive savings programs aimed at children and adults that will integrate personal investment and financial education as a mandatory component of services. Savings opportunities will be linked in creative ways to innovative loan products, education, car ownership and housing stabilization with the aim of helping all individuals and families achieve economic self-sufficiency.

About the Innovator

Dennis currently serves as National League of Cities Senior Consultant to San Antionio Mayor Julian Castro and Secretariat of the Making Connections Local Management Entity Network.

CFED thanks Phyllis Friedman and Friedman family members and friends for supporting the work of Dennis Campa as the inaugural Friedman Fellow Innovator-in-Residence.

Tags: Aging, Children & Youth, Credit & Finance, Financial Education, Saving & Investment, Underserved