BabySteps Enrollment Hub Grant

BabySteps Enrollment Hub Grant is sponsored by Massachusetts Treasurer's Office of Economic Empowerment. Empowers community organizations to assist families in enrolling for the BabySteps program, which offers a $50 deposit for children's education savings.

WCAC Named a BabySteps Enrollment Hub by the Massachusetts State Treasurer's Office - Worcester Community Action Council INFO@WCAC.

NET PHONE (508) 754-1176 WCAC Named a BabySteps Enrollment Hub by the Massachusetts State Treasurer’s Office Worcester Community Action Council Named a BabySteps Enrollment Hub by the Massachusetts State Treasurer’s Office Grant from the Office of Economic Empowerment will help WCAC enroll local families in the state’s children’s savings program, jump-starting education savings from birth Worcester, MA – Worcester Community Action Council (WCAC) has been awarded a $2,500 BabySteps Enrollment Hub Grant from the Massachusetts State Treasurer’s Office of Economic Empowerment.

The grant supports community organizations in helping families enroll in BabySteps, the Commonwealth’s statewide children’s savings program. Through BabySteps, every child born to or adopted by a Massachusetts resident is eligible to receive a free $50 seed deposit into a MEFA U. Fund 529 College Investing Plan when a family opens an account within one year of the child’s birth or adoption.

The accounts can be used for a wide range of future education and training costs, including community college, four-year college, and vocational and apprenticeship programs. Families enrolled in SNAP may qualify for additional deposits through the SNAP into BabySteps initiative.

As an Enrollment Hub, Worcester Community Action Council will integrate BabySteps enrollment support into its existing services, meeting families where they already are, whether through Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms, Healthy Families of Southern Worcester County, free VITA tax preparation, financial empowerment coaching, or fuel assistance appointments, and walking them through the steps to claim their child’s deposit.

Research on children’s savings accounts has found that low- and moderate-income children with even modest college savings are significantly more likely to enroll in and complete postsecondary education than children with no savings, making early enrollment one of the simplest, highest-leverage steps a family can take.

“SeedMA took root in Worcester because families here had the vision and courage to lead something new in the Commonwealth. As an Enrollment Hub, we’re expanding that foundation together. Fifty dollars becomes a powerful message: Your child has potential.

We believe in them. Their future matters. That affirmation and encouragement is the real work we do.

We’re building the belief systems and the conditions that turn aspiration into achievement” said Marybeth Campbell, Chief Executive Officer of Worcester Community Action Council. “By providing the seed deposit to establish these accounts at birth, we help all families take advantage of what their children have the most of—time, and possibility.

We can help level the playing field by removing the barrier of waiting until households have discretionary income to make that initial deposit. That will always be an investment that pays dividends. We look forward to connecting Massachusetts families with this valuable resource” said Terra Oliveira, Financial Empowerment Director at WCAC.

“Families come to us in the middle of something urgent with a shutoff notice, a rent arrearage, a tax appointment. Our navigators and coaches are already sitting across the table from those parents, so adding BabySteps takes a few minutes and sends them home with something that keeps working long after the crisis is handled.

That is the whole point of meeting people where they are,” said Maydee Morales, Resiliency Center Director at WCAC. Families interested in enrolling in BabySteps or learning more about WCAC’s financial empowerment services can visit wcac. net or call 508-762-9802.

More information about the BabySteps Savings Plan is available at mass. gov/babysteps. Worcester Community Action Council (WCAC) is the federally designated anti-poverty agency serving Worcester and Southern Worcester County.

Through 18+ programs across 46 communities, including early education and care, youth workforce development, energy assistance, free tax preparation, and financial empowerment coaching, WCAC creates economic mobility opportunities for tens of thousands of residents each year. WCAC holds a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. Learn more at wcac.

net. For more information, please contact Giselle Rivera-Flores, Chief External Affairs Officer, at 508. 762.

9800.