About Savings Start
The Savings Start program is part of a comprehensive approach aimed at alleviating poverty through asset development. Individual and community assets like small businesses are indicators of strong, self-sufficient families and neighborhoods. Savings Start provides a framework for small business owners to create or expand their micro enterprise while integrating a support network of community partners that program participants might not otherwise have access to. Long term saving habits, credit management, and business development are focus areas of the financial literacy curriculum included in the Savings Start program.
In addition to attending these regular training sessions, program participants are connected to community partners who offer support and guidance while participants create a business plan, make monthly deposits into a customized bank account, and ultimately acquire new assets for their small business. Once the program requirements have been successfully met, participant savings are matched 1 to 1 by the program from the money donated to the fund, administered by Comunidad Connect. Participant savings and the matching funds are then used to purchase assets for the respective small business in accordance with the participant’s business plan.
