Website: https://www.wscat.org
Contact: Gordon Scott, 541-553-3148, gordon@wscat.org
Communities served: Any person working or living inside the Warm Springs reservation boundaries or who is a tribal member living in Oregon.
Eligibility Criteria:
In order to be eligible for the Warm Springs Community Action Team
(WSCAT) IDA Savings Plan, you must:
● Be at least 12 years of age
● Live, work, or have an address on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation
● Be able to attend and complete WSCAT’s financial education courses
● Be able to complete WSCAT’s asset specific education course, for your asset
● Meet with a WSCAT Financial Counselor at least once to go over your goals.
Applicants can re-enroll until they reach a lifetime limit of $20,000 in match.
Application process:
Interested individuals contact WSCAT staff to share their interest in the IDA program or complete an online Cognito Form on our website, www.wscat.org. Some are referred from either the Business Program, HUD housing counselor, or the Wyam Youth Center. We take their name, phone, email, and asset type they’d like to save for. We encourage completing curriculum and/or meeting with WSCAT staff to complete any required classes as they could benefit in knowledge.
The list is sorted by the date they made contact. Once funding becomes available, we begin contacting clients by group to complete and submit their applications, with note that they have a certain amount of time to get the application complete before the next group is invited. We hope to connect with unfamiliar clients at least one time to ensure they have filled out the application and are meeting expectations of the IDA program. We continue this until all open spots are filled. We keep remaining people on the list in order in case people exit the program. Clients that don’t complete application are contacted to inform we have filled all spots and they are welcomed to join the list again.
Average number of IDAs opened each year, in the 3 most recent years: 50
Maximum match per asset: Youth education (14-24) and home purchase have a savings goal of $2400 with match of $12,000. All other IDA’s have savings goal of $1200 with a $6000 match.
Other services provided: HUD counseling, small business counseling, youth workforce, community network events, individual tax preparation, credit counseling, adult workforce, small business incubation, greenhouse agriculture.
