Juma Ventures is a San Francisco-based youth development organization dedicated to helping low- income high school students save for and complete a four-year college degree. Through its CollegeSet program, Juma has opened accounts for more than 2,000 low-income students who have cumulatively saved $2 million for higher education. The program is conducted in partnership with youth development organizations across the country that deploy CollegeSet for students in their local community.
Juma expanded CollegeSet to develop a Facebook application and two-way text messaging system to keep CollegeSet students motivated to continue saving toward a goal of $500. CollegeSet.org is designed to model a game-like environment with rewards, encouragement and peer-to-peer interaction through integration with the Facebook app. The application features elements of group-based financial counseling – goal setting, regular feedback and positive peer pressure – to hold participants accountable to their goals.
The project received funding from the Center for Financial Services Innovation’s Financial Capability Innovation Funds. A partnership with a collaborative of funders led by the Citi Foundation, the Funds provided support to innovative projects designed to help low-income and underserved consumers adopt positive financial behaviors.