That was the intention set forth by the collection of partners that make up BOLD Lansing, whose goal is to empower Lansing students and families to attend college and become financially independent. At our 2021 NCAN
National Conference, three members of BOLD Lansing programs presented the workshop session, "BOLD: Connecting College Savings to College Success."
BOLD Lansing has four programs: Lansing SAVE, the Capital Area College Access Network (CAPCAN), Lansing Promise, and the Financial Empowerment Center. Lansing SAVE is the city’s children’s savings account (CSA) program, which is housed at the Michigan
State University Federal Credit Union (MSCFCU). The accounts are universal automatic accounts, meaning parents do not need to actively open the account on their kindergartner’s behalf. Upon kindergarten enrollment, every student in the Lansing School
District (LSD) gets started with a $5 seed.
Now, $5 may not seem like much. But as Amber Paxton, director of the Office of Empowerment in the City of Lansing notes, it’s the very first dollar that matters the most. After the initial deposit, the credit union makes monthly visits to the classroom
to do age-appropriate financial education on savings. These classroom visits still happened virtually during the pandemic. No momentum was lost - the average account increased by $4.
As Lansing SAVE grew, the CSA program was facing a problem – managing the information was becoming difficult for the City of Lansing as the city transitioned from running the program to overseeing and
funding program partners to manage Lansing SAVE. They knew which data was which; they just needed help sorting through it. The City of Lansing applied for and, along with eight other cities, won the What Works Cities (WWC) Economic Mobility initiative.
The City of Lansing was paired with the Johns Hopkins Center for Government Excellence (GovEx) to help develop performance measures for the Lansing SAVE program.
Prosperity Now featured Lansing SAVE in a research study on equitable metrics for CSAs, funded by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
CSAs are one part of the picture within Bold Lansing. Justin Sheehan, executive director of Lansing Promise, posed a question during the NCAN conference session that illustrates this well: Who in your city, town, or community is doing what – via college
access, a college promise program, etc. – in this continuum toward postsecondary attainment? The goal is to be working in tandem with one another so that with your own partnerships, a student or family can approach any partner within – and there will
be no wrong door. All doors will lead to a student getting the resources and supports they need on their journey.
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