Marshallese Children, U of A Research Supported by United Way of NWA

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A Child Savings Account program designed to put Marshallese children on the path to further education after high school – and ultimately to useful and lucrative careers in their futures – is one of the programs supported by donations to the U of A United Way campaign.

Those donations ultimately go to the United Way of Northwest Arkansas, which currently funds a collaboration between the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese, the Economic Opportunity Agency and the U of A School of Social Work. The project uses the Arkansas 529 College Gift Fund administered by the State Treasurer’s office. The purpose is to help families save to help pay the cost of sending their children to a university, community college or technical school. The Child Savings Account program started in late 2017. The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation funded the $100 seed deposits for each of the 200 Marshallese accounts in Springdale. The United Way of Northwest Arkansas funded $100 in matching funds for the accounts; parents and children who attend the Financial Education class and/or who open a payroll direct deposit plan with their employer are eligible for the $100 matching funds.

The Arkansas Treasurer’s office has also contributed funds to add another 25 children to the Child Savings Account program.

To qualify for the program the parents agree to attend financial education  training classes on topics such as budgeting, credit and debt management, checking and savings accounts and financial aid for college. Janet Wills from the Economic Opportunity Agency creates the curriculum and Lisa Kejjo from the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese teaches the courses in Marshallese.

“So far the program is working well,” said Marcia Shobe, one of two U of A social work professors who helped set up the program and who are studying the results. “Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and even community church members have been able to build on the Child Savings Accounts with their own deposits, and parents and children are thrilled to have an avenue where they can invest in their children’s future.

“The United Way of Northwest Arkansas has stayed very much involved as well – Melody Timinsky, Vice President Community Impact and Ana Phakhin, Community Impact Director, attend all of our Child Savings Account events. It’s clear they really care about the program and want to ensure that the United Way helps Marshallese families to succeed.”

Arkansas' 529 accounts do more than help parents and children save for education -- they also provide a tax deduction. Every dollar saved – up to $5,000 --  can be subtracted from a parent's annual income. Interest on an account is not taxed, as long as the money is spent on education.

In addition to the seed money and the classes, the United Way grant also funds the research that Shobe and her colleague, Yvette Murphy-Erby, are doing to examine the effectiveness of the program and its impact on the family and the Marshallese community. Shobe and Murphy-Erby have partnered with colleagues over the past 21 years to examine the effects of child and adult savings account programs on specific measures of individual and family well-being for African American, Latino, Native-American, and other traditionally under-represented low- to moderate-income groups.The data they collect will hopefully lead to more community projects like this one.

The U of A United Way campaign ends Oct. 31, and a portion of each donation will go to fund this Marshallese program. Anyone donating $100 or more can designate that the full amount goes to a specific program – this one, or any 501c3 group in Northwest Arkansas.