MIAMI - On October 8, 2020, Miami-Dade’s Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution granting $500,000 for the expansion of Future Bound Miami, a universal Children's Savings Account (CSA) program that will be implemented in phases throughout Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The funds, which will come from the Community Disparities Subcommittee reserve, will provide CSAs with initial “seed” deposits to more kindergarten students in the district. The 10 commissioners in attendance voted unanimously in support of the item. 

Future Bound Miami launched in Fall 2019, establishing a CSA for kindergarten students attending 30 elementary schools that feed into the five high schools within the City of Miami. This new investment from the County expands the program to include an additional 98 schools. The goal is to make CSAs available to all kindergarten students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools by 2023. 

“By contributing additional seed funding to the Future Bound Miami program, and leveraging it with contributions from the private sector, we are helping to address economic disparities in our County, helping to make our community stronger and more economically resilient. Research has proven that these accounts have a positive impact on early childhood development and academic performance, increase future financial capability, and reduce the racial wealth gap," said Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who championed this legislation. "By investing in our children, we're investing in the future of Miami-Dade." 

Children’s savings accounts put postsecondary education within reach by allowing students and families to accumulate savings and increase educational expectations. Research shows that children with a college savings account of as little as one dollar are three times more likely to go to college and four times more likely to graduate. 

“Today’s vote to invest in the future of our youth is a big step forward in reducing Miami-Dade’s wealth gap,” said Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava. “I am a long-time advocate of CSAs because we know they improve early childhood development and academic performance, raise the college expectations of children and parents, and improve the financial future of our children. The adoption of this resolution is the crowning achievement of the implementation of the Prosperity Report, of which I am the proud sponsor and brought to our Subcommittee on Disparities that ultimately introduced funding this countywide initiative. I thank Commissioner Higgins for her leadership and my former nonprofit Catalyst Miami for their vision.”

“Catalyst Miami has been working on this for over five years with a consortium of dedicated partners,” said Gretchen Beesing, CEO of Catalyst Miami. “We’re thrilled that the BCC has chosen to make this investment in our County’s children.”

To learn more about the program, please visit www.futureboundmiami.org. 

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About Future Bound Miami

Future Bound Miami is a savings initiative designed to make postsecondary education more accessible and advance economic opportunities for families and children in Miami-Dade County. It is the first universal children’s savings account program in the state of Florida and, at scale, has the potential to become the largest CSA program in the country.

Future Bound Miami was established by a consortium of partners, including Catalyst Miami, The Children’s Movement, The Children’s Trust, the City of Miami, Health Foundation of South Florida, Junior Achievement of Greater Miami, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, The Miami Foundation, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, South Florida Educational Federal Credit Union, and the United Way of Miami-Dade.

Media Contact: Chris Moreno; [email protected], 786-414-1302