Some things we can to encourage this: (The focus is going on the Hispanic student population because that is where my experience is but could definitely be adapted to other diverse student populations)
- In schools with a high Hispanic population when you find out some family is going to have a baby, give the family a book with a $1 (or more) check made out to a bank to open an education savings account. Sixth grade Hispanic students could tape record the books, and they could be given a small amount of money for their education savings account for doing this. A business partner (or grant) could be involved in paying for the cost of this project.
- For the state Spanish Spelling Bee, have the reward be money for an education savings account and a book.
- Encourage service and civic organizations to sponsor a variety of contests such as essay contests with the reward being money for the education savings account and books.
- School and classroom rewards could be money for the education savings account and books rather than other treats.
- Family members, friends, and neighbors could be encouraged to give money for the education savings account and/or books for such celebrations as holidays, births, birthdays, graduations, quinceañeras and other special occasions. Fellow church members could be encouraged to do the same for special occasions the child or youth experiences in the church setting such as baptisms.
- Encourage the student to put at least 10% of any earnings from an allowance or job into his/her educations savings account.
- Hold events such as yard sales where all the profit is divided amongst the participating students for their education savings account.
- Find someone who will match the amount of money in the education savings account each year. If needs be, set a minimum and/or a maximum the student has to accumulate.
In Utah (and a few other states) Zions Bank can help with setting up this education savings account. It can be opened with the minimum amount of $1 and the interest is greater than it is for other accounts. An added plus: Zions has Spanish banks where everyone in the bank speaks Spanish. For more information about this, contact Sylvia Haro at sylvia.haro@zionsbank.com. Other banks may have similar programs, but I am most familiar with Zions because I have worked with them.
