Congressman Collin Peterson -- Minnesota's Seventh Congressional District
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2006
CONTACT: 
Allison Myhre/218-731-1657

West Central Communities Action Awarded $1 Million 

(WASHINGTON, DC) - West Central Minnesota Communities Action, Inc. of Elbow Lake has been awarded $1 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to implement Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) through their Assets for Independence Demonstration Program.

“West Central will be doing great work for people of modest incomes across the state through the IDA program,” Peterson said. “Executive Director Steve Nagle, and his staff at West Central deserve thanks for their hard work to get this off the ground.”

The Assets for Independence Demonstration program is a directed, matched savings program for lower-income working people and families that permits them to use an IDA to accumulate savings that will be matched by the state and will later be used to buy a home, pay for post-secondary education, or for capitalization of a business. Participants also undergo financial literacy training that will help them to repair their credit.

West Central Communities Action will be administering 700 IDA’s through this program for 22 Community Action agencies across the state, along with WomenVenture and certain Native American tribes.

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