By Emma Rausch
emma@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – The Wabash County Promise, Wabash County YMCA and Duke University announced a new partnership Wednesday, Feb. 8, that aims to increase the financial wellbeing in low- to moderate-income households locally and nationwide.
The local YMCA hosted the Common Cents Lab (CCL), a financial research lab at Duke University, to educate local community leaders on behavioral economics and its importance in finances, according to Mariel Beasley, CCL co-director and head of partnerships.
“Common Cents Lab was established about a year ago with funding from the MetLife Foundation and essentially the thought is that there has been so much work around financial wellbeing … how do we actually make movement in this realm,” Beasley told The Paper of Wabash County. “How do we actually sort of build savings accounts? For a long time, the method has been around financial education. … But the research actually shows that’s not what actually changes behavior.”
The MetLife Foundation in joint collaboration with Duke University decided to take the research that did “move the needle” in theory and apply it to low- to moderate-income households by establishing the CCL, she continued.
“The idea is over three years we’ll work with a group of partners each year to start taking these findings from science, from academia about behavior change and applying them in real world to real products, to real problems and then measure real behavior out of those to try to figure out if there’s way that we can really move the needle,” Beasley said. “Our goal within Common Cents is to essentially have measurable impact with 1.8 million people living in the United States over three years.
“It’s a really big goal, and this is our second year. So every year we put out applications for partners, folks that we think are being innovative in the field, who are really wanting to push for impact, who are really interested in increasing financial wellbeing, financial stability for low- to moderate-income households.”
Wabash County Promise and the Wabash County YMCA applied for the partnership in December, Beasley said, and are essential due to their work in building youths’ financial success.
“We do know that a majority of peoples’ financial behaviors are developed in childhood,” she said. “We take them from our families. There’s been some wonderful research … around these child savings accounts and (they’ve had) sort of this really powerful impact, not just on future savings behavior of those kids as they grow up and become adults but also on their cognitive development in schools. It’s actually sort of amazing how far reaching the implications are for actually establishing every child with a savings account, saving for the future at a very young age.
“We’re really excited about the work that Promise has been doing because I think that they are a leader in the child savings account field and highly respected. This is such an interesting opportunity and it’s such an amazing program that we’re really excited about working collaboratively with the Promise to figure out exactly where are ways that we can make this even better.”
Clint Kugler, YMCA CEO and the person who spearheaded the Wabash County Promise program, said the partnership will align the Promise’s goal with establishing financial success in adult residents.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to help align our passion for people and our folks within our community with learning that will connect them with the tools and resources that will help them (in financial success),” Kugler told The Paper. “So it’s alignment of our heart and our actions. Sometimes we can create barriers that can prevent families from taking important steps, and we don’t want to create barriers. We want to eliminate them and create a more meaningful experience so when we’re coming along side families, we’re encouraging them to take these important steps.
“We’re aligning their desire for their kids to be successful with the actions that they’re taking, behavioral science and Duke (University), this yearlong partnership, will create a more affective and more meaningful outcomes.”