Opportunity Passport™
Vision for the Opportunity Passport™
The Opportunity Passport™ is the centerpiece of the Initiative's work. Designed to organize resources and create opportunities for young people leaving foster care, the Opportunity Passport™ is a promising new tool with three related components:
- A personal debit account to be used to pay for short-term expenses;
- A matched savings account, also known as an Individual Development Account (IDA), to be used for specific assets, such as education expenses and housing down payments/deposits.
- Door Openers, a host of opportunities to be developed on a local basis. Examples include pre-approval for registration for community college courses or expedited access to job-training or adult education courses.
The Opportunity Passport™ helps participants learn financial management; obtain experience with the banking system; save money for education, housing, health care, and other specified expenses; and gain streamlined access to educational, training, and vocational opportunities.
- Read the Initiative's Opportunity Opportunity Passport™ flyer (PDF, 109KB).
- Read an Opportunity Passport™ success story.
Key Resources
The following materials provide essential guidance for implementing Initiative programs. You can download these materials by right-clicking on an individual item in the listing below. The item will download as a Zip file that contains files of various formats (primarily Microsoft Word, but also may include Microsoft PowerPoint and/or Excel files). (For more information on Zip files, see http://www.pkzip.com.)
Building Assets for Your Future: Financial Literacy Curriculum (October 2004 edition). All participants in the Opportunity Passport™ must complete financial literacy training. This curriculum includes the following components:
- Instructor's Manual (ZIP, 1.2MB)
- Participant Workbook (ZIP, 1.3MB)
- Train-the-Trainer Materials (ZIP, 162KB)
Useful Links
For more information regarding asset building for youth, please check out the following links.
- Annie E. Casey's Family Economic Success Program (FES) utilizes community-based strategies to help families achieve economic success.
- Corporation for Enterprise Development currently supports an Individual Development Accounts (IDA) and Child Savings Accounts (CSA) initiative in thirteen communities.
- Center for Social Development has information regarding IDA development and state legislation.
- The Finance Project develops and disseminates information and technical assistance for improved policies and financing strategies for children, families, and communities.
- National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (CDCU) promotes the development of IDAs for low-income credit union members.
- New America Foundation's Asset Building Program provides information and research on asset ownership and policies for legislators, researchers, and advocates.
