 We have an exciting announcement for you today, and some fun things as well. My name is Gloria Said, and I'd like to welcome all of you here for this exciting announcement today. We're here to kick off a pilot program that you'll hear a little more about in a little bit, but it's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be an opportunity for you all to save money. How about that? Okay, okay. Before we get started, I would like to say that my name is Gloria Said. I didn't say that already. I'm the Community Development Director for the City of Columbia, and we've been working over the past 18 months or so to put together a child savings account program. So we're excited that we've finally got to the day where we're ready to have the kickoff. It basically aligns with the city's 20-year Envision Columbia plan. They have seven focus areas and one specifically called Empowering Our Residence, and we have our little residents right here. So this is a way for us to continue to work toward those goals that our city council has set for us by providing this particular program. Ms. Councilwoman Devine was very instrumental in getting this going and expressing her concerns, and one of her major platforms is about empowering our residents. So having said that, I am basically just going to step aside and let her give you a lot of information about what this program is all about. Thank you, Gloria. Good morning. All right. Good morning, boys and girls. How are y'all today? Good. Well, as Ms. Said said, my name is Tamika Isaac Devine. I am an at-large council member and the Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Columbia, and it is so such my honor to be able to be here today. As Gloria talked about 18 months, I think this has probably been in my head for the last five or six years, and so I'm glad that we are finally able to be here and announce and kick off Columbia Kids Save. So just so for the folks who are here and the little ones, let me explain to you a little bit about what Columbia Kids Save is. So boys and girls, do you guys like money? Do you like to do things with your money? So what the City of Columbia wants to do is help you guys get some money and save it up so that you can do some really great things in the future. And so Columbia Kids Save is a pilot program and it is our new Children's Savings Account program for the City of Columbia. The City of Columbia is partnering with Richland School District 1, who you'll hear from representatives in just a few minutes, to provide and set up child savings accounts for kindergarten students. We're going to start here at Watkins Nance. This is going to be our pilot, but our goal and our intent will be to make this city-wide in the next few years. But what we'll be doing is we will open up an account for all of these boys and girls here at Watkins Nance who just started their kindergarten year, and we will open the accounts, open it up for them in their name, and Columbia will provide seed funding. We will put $50 in the account for each of these students, and then we will match dollar for dollar for the first $50 that they save as they go through the year. The reason that we decided to do this program, and Gloria talked about our initiative at Vision Columbia, but quite frankly statistics show us that long-term savings accounts help children and their family build savings. It helps them with asset building and it helps them see the possibilities for the future. Saving for college, what they're going to do once they get out of school, and what we do know is that when you start young and you give education, financial education specifically at a young age, you're building a lifetime skill that they will need long after they graduate from 12th grade. So this pilot program is for K-5 students, but we're going to start here at Watkins Nance for this year's class, the kindergarten class 2018-2019, and as our desire again, as I mentioned, to expand the program after a few years. This program is an opt-in only program, so the parents will need to fill out an application and allow us to open these accounts. But as I mentioned, once we open the account, the city will do the initial deposit of $50 for each of these students, and then we will match dollar for dollar throughout the duration of the first year up to $50. The deposits will be made here at Watkins Nance, so they don't have to leave here and go to a bank, but we will have our partner bank that will come here to the school and accept the deposits from the children. So from five cents to 25 cents to a dollar or whatever you guys have, you come in here to school and the banker will deposit it, and then you will see your money grow over the course of the year. Our reason for doing the Columbia Kids Save program is to jumpstart kids' savings for college. We do know that higher education sometimes is cost prohibitive, and we hear about it all the time, and we want these kids not only to see themselves going to school after they graduate, but we also want them to see how important it is to save and have financial education. We partnered with Watkins Nance for several reasons. Number one, it is a Title I school within the city limits of the city of Columbia, and it's also located in one of community development's target areas, and then personally I just have to say they have an amazing principal, and so I knew that this was the great place to start. Not only will we set up the savings accounts and do the initial deposit, but through partnering with Richland One, each of the children and their families will get over the course of a year financial education. We do know that with everything that kids have to learn during a school day, it is impossible for us to teach them everything that they need to within the confines of a school day, and so unfortunately kids don't really get financial education the way we would like to see it in elementary or even in any of the K-12 schools, and so having this will have an opportunity to give them some additional financial education, but the big part that I'm really excited is it's not just for them, it's for their families as well, and so the parents will also get financial education, talk about saving, building assets, understanding, balancing, checking accounts, what happens when you get money in and then you spend money and that money is now gone and how you have to build more money, so all of that will be part of it and we're so excited for the curriculum that Richland One and specifically Dr. Norton here at White Constance has provided that will support the families throughout this. We are so so excited to have three banking partners and you'll hear from one of them in a few minutes, but our partners with this program are South State Bank, Security Federal Bank, and First Citizens Bank, and they're all represented here today, so and I'll introduce those representatives in a few minutes, but White Constance will take on the role of educating the parents and the children about the opportunities and in addition the city will also bring our other resources. The Child Savings Account is just our newest addition to all of the things that we're trying to do to empower our citizens financially, so we've got our IDA accounts, our individual development accounts that the Community Development Department has had for many, many years. We also have our Bank On Program, which is introducing adults to banking relationships and helping them with understanding developing a banking relationship and saving, so this is just one piece and it's focusing on our most important residents, our kids. South State Bank will take on the role of housing the CSAs and as I mentioned they have graciously agreed to send a representative to the school to accept the deposits, because that way we know that no one will have any barriers, transportation, location to get that money deposited, but the banking representative will come here. The biggest part is in addition to, well not the biggest part, but another part in addition to actually the financial incentives, matching dollar for dollar up to that first hundred dollars, what we are going to also do is provide incentives throughout the year, so and I'm going to put him on the spot and he's not here, but boys and girls, how many of y'all would love for the mayor to come have lunch with you guys? Yeah, so we've got Lauren Harper in the back representing the mayor's office, so for kids who save, if you save some money, one of the things could be the mayor actually coming and having lunch with you here in your school. Other initiatives we'll have are some speakers, probably get you out some stickers. I know my kids love to get free stuff and so we're looking for other partners to help us provide other incentives, so this is just going to be a really, really fun program opportunity, not just to teach our kids lifelong lessons, but also an opportunity to get them excited about saving and getting their families excited about saving. Lastly, before I introduce some of our other speakers, it is so important that this program is directly aligned with Envision Columbia. Columbia Kids Save hits our focus areas and so Envision Columbia has a goal that we have that we want to achieve by 2036 and part of it is attracting and retaining talent, empowering our residents and economic prosperity and endless possibilities and when we think about those goal areas, this really hits the heart of that. When these kids in 2036, when they have started a savings account at five and six years old, just imagine what they can have if they continue to save after this first year and so we're so excited about how that directly aligns with what we want to do here in the city of Columbia and the desired goal that we have in 2036. This program will actually be the very first program in South Carolina like this, but it's not the first program in the country. We will be joining other cities like San Francisco, New York, Boston, St. Louis and Durham, North Carolina that have all had very successful child savings account programs and so we're happy to take the lead in South Carolina to start this program and really show that this can happen here specifically in the south. And so with that said, I'll come back at the end and answer any questions that the media may have, but I would like to first introduce, if I could, vice chairman of the Richland School District 1 and the District 2 representative which Watkins Nance is part of his district and then I have to say my other half. Introduce Commissioner Jamie Devine for some remarks. Just to start real quick with a quote, I like to quote famous people so Nobel Peace Prize winner economist James Heckman argues that investments made during a child's earliest years offer the biggest bang for the buck, creating significant long-term benefits for both child and society. Child savings account programs and all children, the message that they have, the potential and the support needed for academic success and economic mobility regardless of where they come from and from their family finances. According to the Center for Social Justice Development, a low and moderate income child with a savings account of $500 or more is more than three times likely to attend college than a child with no savings account. And again we're thankful today to our partners who are here, the different banks that are represented and so we're thankful for what they provided to us in continuing to transform lives here in Richland School District 1 and we look forward to you all being the future of us in the next 16 to 18 years. You all will be standing going to college or in entrepreneurial role hopefully attending a two-year college with preferably Midlands Tech here locally but if not wherever you go again we want to start right here today and in the future right here. And while I'm here I also want to recognize two of my colleagues, Ms. Lila Anasals and Ms. Beatrice King who is in the audience as well. I want to say thank you guys for ladies for attending as well and again on behalf of the Richland Board of School Commissioners we're here to say thank you again to our partners, to our superintendent and staff and to what I think is one of the hard-working principals in this district, Dr. Linda Norton. Thank you for allowing us to have this program in your school. And to the young people always remember this is where it starts, this is where it begins. Have a great morning. Well good morning. And anytime we can gather and celebrate and invest in our young people is a great day here in Richland 1. To Councilwoman Devine and those our partners that have put this together, first thing we want to say is thank you. Again if we're talking about how do we grow a community, how do we grow generations to come? This is what happens. This is how we invest in our young people and kindergartners what is our mascot? A rocket which means you fly through space and you move from point A to point B. So what's happening today? You're going to get some fuel if you will, some rocket fuel, some funds and those funds are going to grow, which means that rocket tank might contain this much fuel but throughout the years that tank is going to grow and grow and grow so you can take that rocket and go into space and move forward. Now let me say one more thing to you. To grow that fuel and to take these funds and grow it, it's going to take a little time but that's okay because sometimes the great things in life take a little time but it's going to benefit you. So again to our partners and young people you have to, I mean older folks you got to forgive me I got to talk to the kids. But again imagine all of us coming together to support what goes on in the lives of these young people make us a better community, a better community even today, right now. We're better than we were in terms of what we invest and what we spend with our young folks. So certainly to City Councilwoman Divine, the mayor, our partners, we thank you. We thank you for the investment. We thank you for the vision and we thank you most of all for the partnership because we know it takes all of us coming together to provide for our young folks and we're just so excited and elated to be a part and here at Watkins Nance as we grow in Principal Norton, we thank you so much for your hard work and the staff here in our community that supports these young people and this is a great day and a great opportunity to celebrate the future. And I'll leave, we all like to use quotes, I'll leave you a Chinese proverb that talks about one generation planting a tree and the next generation realizing that shade. So we're planting a tree today that might take about 18 or so years, but that shade tree is going to grow. So thank you so very much. Thank you all for being a part. Thank you. Again, we couldn't do this program without our partners. We were able, and Gloria talked about 18 months and I said six years, the big challenge for us was really to figure out how we could get this done. And so although the will of council in the city was behind getting it done, honestly, legally we had some limitations on how we were going to be able to provide the funding for this. And so we had the idea, we had the partnerships, we had the vision, but we didn't have the money. And that is the key to this program. And so because we could not put public funds in this pilot program, we had to seek partners. And I will tell you that Columbia is blessed that we have so many amazing banking partners throughout our city. And all, we had several who just said, how can I help? What can we do? And so we have three banking partners that are helping us with the pilot program, which will help us for the first couple years so that we can really tweak it and see how it goes. And then again, we will be looking at ways to expand it district-wide, city-wide so that we will need more funding in the future. And we've got some ideas on how we were able to do that. But in order to do the pilot, we had three banks step up and donate $5,000 apiece. We have First Citizens Bank, who James Bennett couldn't be here today, but he did send Brian, and I'm going to get it right. I'm sorry, Brian. Brian, would you stand and thank you so much, Brian, for being here, representing First Citizens. And thank you for your commitment and support of helping us. We also have Security Federal. And you'll hear from Kathy Snipes in a few minutes. And then we also have Montague Lafitte, who is the regional vice president of South State Bank. So again, each of these three banks donated $5,000. And so I would like to just ask if Kathy would come forward from Security Federal to talk. And then after that, Montague will come up. And South State Bank, again, in addition to their $5,000 put in their money where their mouth is, they have committed to send a banking representative to this bank, to the school to receive all the deposits for these students. And then they will house the accounts for us. And then I want to show you guys. And each of you will actually get your own piggy bank. So this is where you're going to save your money. And so South State Bank has provided all the piggy banks so that we have the kids can save their money and then bring in the piggy banks for their deposits. So I would ask if Kathy would come up and then after Kathy, Montague would come up. Good morning, boys and girls. On behalf of Security Federal Bank, we are so excited to be a partner with you and to serve you. And we know the power in learning to save at an early age. We have a Looney Tune program where we have representatives that go into schools such as this and do just what South State has committed to do. And we're so excited to be a part of this. Boys and girls, we have some goodies for you in the back as well. And one is in your pencil bag. It's a card where you save a quarter. You put it, when you have an extra quarter, or you save a quarter, you just put it in this card. And when you have it full, you have $10 to put in your new account. So just want to encourage you to save and tell you again, thank you. We're just happy to be a partner with you. And anyway, we can help just please reach out to us. Thank you and happy savings. Kids, are y'all excited? I tell you, I've got three kids that are probably between your ages and 10 years old, and they are not nearly as well-behaved as you guys are. So y'all have done a remarkable job. How about give yourself a hand? Real quick, I want to touch on three kind of statistics that we see in the workplace and in family life that I think really speaks to this program and some of the things that we're trying to do as a bank to make not just Columbia, but the state of South Carolina a little bit stronger. 19% of all American households have accumulated debt over time to pay for expenses associated with college or higher education. Roughly half of Americans say they don't have a personal budget or family budget to deal with day-to-day expenses, and a significant number of South Carolinians don't use the banking system at all or are considered underbanked. And so this program right here helps to start savings at a very young age that will help plan for the future. And as Dr. Witherspoon said, y'all have a bright future and this is the fuel for your rocket. Again, we're committed to improving the lives of South Carolinians and improving the lives of young people here in Columbia. We have started a bank and school program that enables students to build relationships with bankers. And these bankers come into the school just like Stephanie Betty will here at Watkins Nance. So far we've served 26,000 students across the state, and we're ecstatic about growing that number starting right here at Watkins Nance Elementary. So again, y'all have done a great job today. I know you will continue to do a great job every time you find a piece of money on the ground or some extra money somewhere. We encourage you to put it in the piggy bank and bring it to school, and we'll in turn put it in a bank account that will continue to grow over time. So again, thank you to Mayor Benjamin. I know he's not here to Councilwoman Devine, Dr. Witherspoon, Dr. Norton, and all the folks at the city that have allowed us to be a part of this program. Thanks so much and have a great day. I have acknowledged my colleagues before, but I have to say it again because and staff knows this. I'm kind of the idea Council person, you know, I go somewhere, I come back with an idea and, you know, and I expected to get done, but I'm only one person. But currently I am serving as vice chair and will send a chair next year of the Council on Youth Education and Families for National League of Cities. And that is where I first learned about Child Savings Accounts throughout the country. And all of them were in larger cities and none were in the south. And for the media, if you need, I can show you actually my husband took my other folder, but okay. So I can show you a map of the Child Savings Accounts programs. I don't need it right now, Quentin, just for media if you want. And it's on a website, the Child Savings Accounts programs throughout the country. There are none in South Carolina, Georgia or Florida. And so when you look at the south, the closest one in south is Durham and they they've just started their pilot two years ago. And so again, this is very innovative for us here in South Carolina. And there were a lot of obstacles legal and otherwise of getting it done. But you know, but when I came back and said, this is what I want to get done. My colleagues, the city manager and our community development staff said, okay, we can get it done. And so I want to thank Gloria Said, our director of community development, who is here, say, rave again. And Ron Scott, where did Ron go? And Ron Scott, I mean, Ron King, I'm sorry, I always do that to him, Ron King, who is administering this program and our bank on program. They have worked frivolously. And they have worked tirelessly with me over the last 18 months of saying, okay, how can we get this done? And so, but in addition to those two, the entire community development staff, they are a team and Gloria, I can't read. And Lynette, okay, yes, Lynette, and y'all will get to know Lynette. I'm getting to know Lynette and Lynette is getting to know me with my big ideas. And so Lynette is in community development as well. But the entire community development team, you know, there are people who are not here, but they are a team and they help get this done. I mentioned the partnership with Richland one, but definitely Dr. Lorton Norton and Ms. Liles. The two of them are the principal and vice principal of this wonderful school. If y'all will wave your hands. Thank you so much. I'm going to tell you, these ladies have so many ideas that the kids and these families will get support throughout this entire program. And I've just been in awe of everything that they have brought to the table at trying to make sure that not only is this program meaningful to the young men and women, the boys and girls, but to their families. And so this really will be a transformative program. And I'm so excited for them. I also want to thank, in their absence, over the years I've had interns who have worked on this program with me. Like I said, this has been in my head for about six years. So Mattal, I am worn and Amani Belton, I both I sent both of them emails today. Neither one are still in Columbia. They were students who work with me on this program, but I have to thank them in their absence because they did the initial research on child savings accounts throughout the country, what works, what doesn't work, what would work here, and gave us the foundation on how we were going to get started. And then lastly, the city manager in her absence because she is always very supportive of everything that I bring back and and says, let's get it done. And we we are finally here. So with that, I will answer any questions that the media may have before we have our last little surprise for the boys and girls. So I honestly, I we have roughly around 75 Linda in kindergarten right now. Our hope is to get, you know, at least, you know, 80% of those participating. It is an opt-in program. So again, the parents have to fill out the application and they have to allow us to do this. But again, one of the reasons we wanted to do Watkins Nance is the support that Dr. Norton and her staff give the families and the relationship that they have with the families. You know, one of the things that we do know is that especially when you're talking finances, when you're talking meetings, different things, you know, people, quite honestly, sometimes are a little bit weary. And we want to make sure that our families have the support and the information necessary to know that this is a good program for their children and their families. And so with Dr. Norton's support, I think that she will have personal touches with all the families. We do have some families represented here at the press conference today. So our hope is about 80%. But after the first year, we'll kind of know how that is. Monique talked about, or Kathy talked about the Looney Tunes savings that Security Federal has. My child's school has the Looney Tunes savings. And they're usually roughly around 40% that participate in that program. So it will start with, it starts with this group in kindergarten. And our goal is to follow this group of young people through fifth grade. And so the incentives will be for the first year, the financial incentives will be through the first year up to the $100. But after that, we're looking at other incentives. So as I mentioned, potentially the mayor coming, we could get other folks who come in the school. What I've learned with the Looney Tunes savings at my child's school, and there is no financial incentive there. But the kids, my little one is Friday morning, she's like, Mommy, I need my deposit because they get pencils and stickers. So you don't have to do a whole lot to incentivize. And so our goal is after the first year to keep incentives up, they won't be the dollar for dollar match. But there'll be others so that after, you know, when these young people leave in fifth grade, we'll see how their savings has grown. Honestly, the highest hurdle probably is the fact that our goal is for this to be savings for post secondary education. But the reality is, and Monica, you talked about some of the statistics regarding debt. The reality is we do know that we deal with families who have crises that come up where finances are needed. And so we have we have designed the program very specifically to there is a restriction on our dollars that can be withdrawn. However, we cannot restrict dollars that the children put in themselves. And so probably I would imagine the highest hurdle that I understand that a lot of other states have is that families quite honestly have emergencies that come up and they need to withdraw money. And so our hope is to be able and that's why we want to make sure we're bringing other resources to the table so that we're working with the families. And so, you know, if you have an issue that comes up, you need, you know, rent, you have a medical expense, you have, you know, fix your car that we have other resources within the community that we could be bringing to the table and making them aware of so that the first line is not going and taking out this money, but maybe having, you know, a community resource that can help you with that issue. It's definitely the families. I mean, one of the things, and I mentioned me personally, I mean, my child, you know, she's like, you know, whether it's 50 cents, she's wanting to go and deposit it and it's encouraging. And so it certainly it helps us understand not only, you know, are you saving for your child's future, but you're saving for financial stability and you're building an asset for the entire family. And so the piece that will be really big is that the kids will learn age-appropriate financial education, but the parents will also learn the same information at their level. And so it's complementary. And so not only are we educating the young people, but we're educating the entire family. And what we do know is that when you educate the entire family about financial resources, about stability, asset building, saving, it helps them head off those issues that Monica, you talked about in statistics, when you have a medical bill that you have to deal with and you don't have savings, it'll hopefully encourage them. And I mentioned, you know, this is just a piece of what the city has and what it brings to the table. So the families will know about our individual development accounts, which is basically the similar account for adults. And as you save, the only three things that they can take the money out, the money is used for starting a business, going back to school, or buying home. And so, you know, the parents will have the ability to have access to that program as well. And so as their children are saving, they might say, yay, city, I want the IDA, and they may open an account as well. You know, Ron and his team have financial education about banking, about budgeting. I mentioned the bank on program, which is developing relationships with the banks and having your account in a bank. And so that'll be available to the families as well. So all those resources will be utilized to support the entire family. So all the whole family will get the education, but they'll also get the resources. And I don't want to put her on the spot. But Linda, can you come up? Because, yes, can you come up because she has some amazing ideas. So I want her to address that a little bit. But, you know, honestly, we know that, yeah, we learned to write in checks, but quite honestly, who's writing checks these days? Most people are not writing checks. So they'll get some of that information as well, but we'll also, you know, teach them about credit and debt. And so, you know, I laugh because I say that my, I'll say that, you know, back in the day, I used to tell my mom what she'd say. I'd want something. She said, I don't have the money. I'm like, write a check. You know, I didn't quite understand that writing a check means you had to have money in the bank to actually buy what you wanted. And so I laugh because now my children or years ago, they were the same. They're like, well, just, just use your credit card. And I realize, you know, you swiping a card, they're not seeing money passing, but they don't realize that means you have to have money to back up either paying that bill when it comes to do, or if you're doing a debit card, money in the bank. And so those are the things that we'll learn. And, you know, Lauren and others kind of keep me up on all this bit currency and that kind of stuff. So I'm sure we'll have to make that part of it. So as the program grows, we'll add in some of that stuff. But I'm going to let Stephanie and Linda talk about some of the things that they've had that they're going to be teaching. Good morning. We are so excited. I'm a representative from South State. So boys and girls, I am going to be your banker. So the thing about today, technology, he said about writing checks. I can teach you about writing checks, but the most thing that kids understand now is plastic cards. They don't understand the physical money part of it, but they do know what a debit and credit card is, right? Yeah. So that's one of the things I would like to bring in to teach kids about. Also having them, you know, bringing their money, you know, showing them how to count their money is a simple stuff like that. And I'm just so excited that to be a representative of South State. And I look forward to working with all you all. Yes, I would you say so. I told Dr. Winterspoon, I am not a media person. We're going to do our best to possibly integrate all content areas in the skills that the kids develop, specifically with math and with writing and reading. Our big word to start with would be deposits, deposits. So they will learn that not only am I putting money in an account, but I'm investing in myself. So often as adults, we have emergencies that come up. And then we find ourselves maybe sometimes getting a loan and not really having a backup plan. So we want our kids to start early. So we want them to start now looking at their money and adding it. And then they will learn, learn what interest means. Like someone's going to give me more money if I put my money in a bank. So they're going to work on all of those skills, even in their classes, learning early. And what happens when we want to send a message to our parents, we always use the kids. We tell them, we're going to have a program tomorrow. Tell mommy, you have to come. So parents, they're soft when it comes to their babies. So they're going to go home excited. Like Councilwoman Devine said, and they're going to say, I need my deposit. I need to put my money in the bank. Parents listen to their kids. And they're also going to say, you can't take it out because that's my money. So that we're going to use them to teach the parents as well. So this is going to be an awesome program. And we're going to embed it in our entire curriculum.