The Latina Savings Project was designed to encourage and facilitate savings among low- and moderate-income Latinas.
The Project
The Latina Savings Project helps participants understand their finances; overcome barriers to saving; develop achievable savings goals; open a savings account; and develop a saving habit by making monthly deposits and receiving matched savings after 6 months.
Latina Savings Project with Centro Hispano
The Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) was awarded a grant from TruStage (formerly the CUNA Mutual Foundation) to implement in partnership with Centro Hispano of Dane County the Latina Savings Project — an emergency-savings pilot program — in 2021.
To implement the project, WISER and local partner Centro Hispano of Dane County, along with national partner, MANA – A National Latina Organization worked with local credit unions that accommodated small deposits and provide access to a low or no-cost savings account. Read the press release announcing the grant.
The project evaluation and summary report was released in March 2024. Read the press release.
REPORT: The Latina Savings Project – Changing the Savings Behavior of Latina Women
Initial Project Programs
From 2017-2019, the Latina Savings Project was conducted in four cities across the U.S. – Albuquerque, New Mexico; Baytown, Texas; Fort Worth, Texas; and Topeka, Kansas. The program focused on helping participants understand their own finances; then overcome barriers to saving, develop achievable savings goals, and open a savings account and begin saving. The project is a collaboration between WISER and MANA, a National Latina Organization, and funded with support from AARP Foundation.
For more information on the project and results, download the reports:
Latina Retirement Savings Project: Evaluation Report
This report provides a complete data analysis and evaluation, published September 2019.
The Latina Savings Project
A Project Summary Report, published October 2019