OPPORTUNITY PASSPORT®
KEYS TO YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE TRAINING

First Place for Youth offers the Keys to Your Financial Future training, a financial literacy course for youth who are currently or who have formerly been in the foster care system. The course will teach participants about eight key areas of understanding and managing personal finance.

Completing this course is also the first step in becoming eligible for the Opportunity Passport® matched savings program. Opportunity Passport® allows participants to match their savings up to $3,000 toward the purchase of key assets like a car, housing, or education costs.

Who?

Open to youth ages 16-25 who spent at least 1 day in foster care in MS after their 14th birthday.·Participants do not have to be in custody currently.

What?

A financial training course specifically designed for youth who have been in foster care. We’ll discuss topics like setting goals, building good credit, budgeting, saving, understanding loans, and more!

When?

There are multiple offerings of the full course.

  • Classes are three-day sessions. You must attend all three days to complete the course.
  • All classes take place from 7pm to 9pm

2023 Training Classes

  • AUGUST 21st, 22nd, 23rd
  • SEPTEMBER 18th, 19th, 20th
  • OCTOBER 16th, 17th, 18th
  • NOVEMBER 13th, 14th, 15th

Where?

The online training courses will be offered via Zoom. Participants will need a good internet connection and a video-enabled device such as a smart phone or laptop. Participants MUST actively participate in the sessions and cannot be engaged in other activities while on the Zoom meeting.

How?

To register for an upcoming course, complete the application by clicking HERE. Email [email protected] if you have issues.

KEYS TO YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE CURRICULUM

Keys to Your Financial Future is a financial capability curriculum specifically written for older youth and young adults with foster care experience. It is designed to help you plan how to get, manage and use money now and in the future so you can have the life you envision for yourself. The goal of the curriculum is to provide you with information and the opportunity to learn skills to build your financial capability.

WHY KEYS?

Keys provide access to things — an apartment, a car, a home and a business. Keys provide security — locking your apartment, car, home or business can keep you and the things that belong to you safe. Keys are about control — when you have keys you have control over something. Keys provide answers — such as in answer keys. Information that is key is considered essential or important.

There is a lot of information in this curriculum. Most of it will be covered in training. Some if it you may need to review on your own. You may need to go through it more than once as you use the information for your daily life. Depending on your age or where you are in your life, some of the information may not apply to you right now. If you find this is the case, try to think of how it will apply in the future. Knowing this information now, before you need it, may help keep you from making common money mistakes.

8 STEPS

There are eight sections, or keys, in this curriculum:

  1. Building the foundation for your financial future
  2. Unlocking the door to loans, housing, jobs, and more
  3. Getting the credit and loans you need
  4. Understanding your income
  5. Paying your bills and making a budget
  6. Saving and investing
  7. Banking
  8. Protecting your identity and your money

When you complete Keys to Your Financial Future training, you will have new information and skills to:

  • Feel confident in your ability to get, manage and plan for your financial needs now and in the future.
  • Describe a vision for your life and set goals based on your values to achieve your vision.
  • Prioritize spending based on needs, obligations and wants, and learn consequences of nonpayment of bills and expenses.
  • Find money to save for goals, assets and emergencies and choose an option for keeping and building savings that is accessible and secure for you.
  • Advocate for yourself in debt collections and consumer reporting and when there are mistakes on account statements, bills, taxes or any other financial transaction, statement or report.
  • Develop knowledge and skills to do the following:
  • Get, read and interpret, correct errors on and build or improve your credit history — credit reports and scores.
  • Compare credit offers and understand the basic terms of loans and credit cards.
  • Read and interpret paycheck stubs.
  • Open and maintain savings and checking/debit accounts.
  • Protect your identity and financial reputation by knowing how to detect and defend against identity theft and financial fraud.

READ MORE ABOUT CURRICULUM

Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative created the Opportunity Passport® and supports its implementation in Mississippi and other sites across the country.