Snohomish County also has a program of individual development accounts with matching grants, mostly to help people save money to buy a home. The program has filled all its available positions for this year.
It’s operated by United Way of Snohomish County, which will added some new people to the program next spring.
But that doesn’t mean that people need to wait for advice on how to save and how to handle their finances, said Deborah Squires of United Way.
She said the financial education component of the development account program has been so popular that her agency now has quarterly classes, with the next one coming up in October.
“What we hear time and time again (in the home buying program) is that the financial education is a critical component,” Squires said. “We knew that the number of people who could benefit from that is a bigger pool.”
The five-week financial program, open to anyone, will look at a wide range of financial issues, including banking, paying yourself first, general money matters, credit and borrowing, safeguarding your money and home-buying issues.
Each class lasts about 90 minutes to two hours. Unlike the development account program, there is no matching money for people who save.
Squires said several local financial institutions, Frontier, Cascade and City banks, are scheduled to help teach the classes. To sign up or for more information, call 425-374-5506.
She said her agency has operated the individual development account program since 2004 and has had 20 graduates who saved money and received matching grants. Thirteen purchased their first home, two pursued education and five started a small business.
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