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The Personal Investment Enterprise's mission is to provide tools that empower low-income residents to save and build assets to strengthen their economic stability. PIE is independently managed by Foothills United Way (FHUW) as the fiscal agent and Boulder County Community Action Program as the program coordinator. Asset building is an emerging and promising approach to alleviating poverty and promoting self-sufficiency for the millions of working poor Americans.
Program participants open Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), which are matched savings accounts, designed to help working low-income families and individuals save money exclusively for the homeownership, post-secondary education, and small business capitalization program. The program is the only program of its kind in Boulder and Broomfield Counties and one of only three in Colorado.
The program provides a maximum match of $3,000 towards the asset purchase of each program participant. Participants in the program must be in the IDA/PIE Program for at least 6 months and may stay up to 30 months. During that time participants save monthly, a minimum of $25, which must come from earned income. The savings are matched 4:1 up to $750 (with a $3,000 match). Participants also attend a series of 4 financial literacy classes and then an asset specific class related to their purchase goal.
The IDA/PIE Program currently has Early Childhood Education Opportunity openings available. These funds may be used for post-secondary education (ECE related) or the capitalization of a childcare business. These early childhood education funds are restricted to bi-lingual, Spanish-speaking participants. Early childhood education expenses are paid from the program directly to an eligible educational institution or vendor, and include tuition and fees required for the enrollment or attendance of a student at an eligible educational institution.
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