Opportunity Passport

The Opportunity Passport is available to young people ages 14 through 23 who were in foster care at age 14 or older. It is designed to aid their transition to independence. The Opportunity Passport has three components: a debit account, an Individual Development Account, and connections to local opportunities. The debit account allows the passport holder to pay immediate expenses. Many former foster youth can't afford the fees attached to conventional bank accounts, and the debit account provides them with a relationship with a mainstream financial institution. The Individual Development Account (IDA) is a matched savings account in which each $1 the Passport holder deposits is matched by a ratio of 1 to 1 or 1 to 4, depending upon the site and the purpose for which the savings are to be used. Each Passport holder must complete a financial literacy class, after which he or she receives a $100 grant to open the account. Door Openers are a set of special opportunities negotiated locally and designed to expedite access to resources and services like employment training, housing subsidies, low-cost health insurance, and mentoring relationships.

The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative is a national foundation whose mission is to help youth in foster care make successful transitions to adulthood.

Results from a baseline survey in October 2008 show that the 3,052 Opportunity Passport participants who responded had deposited over $3 million. 35% of participants had taken advantage of the program's initiative to match participants' spending on approved assets. The Opportunity Passport program has sites in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Tennessee.