Venetian, county and bank are helping workers, residents with savings accounts

Phil Levine

Thursday, Dec. 23, 1999 | 10:57 a.m.

Clark County's Economic Opportunity Board and the Venetian hotel-casino are entering a joint venture designed to help working Las Vegans save for their future.

Las Vegas public and private sector officials gathered Wednesday at the Venetian to introduce the "Individual Development Account" program. The IDA initiative is a matching fund program, designed to assist qualified Venetian employees and Las Vegans in starting a small business, buying a home or furthering their education.

"It's really designed to assist people, and to help them learn about money management," said Kimberly Bailey-Tureaud, the EOB's micro-business coordinator. "We aim to enhance the financial management skills of people involved, and that's why (financial) education plays such a key role in the program."

The Venetian contributed $100,000 to the initiative, with an additional $90,000 coming from federal grants.

The program will match monies saved by participants at a rate of two to one to a maximum of $2,000; once the maximum savings level is reached, an additional $4,000 in matching funds is added for a total of $6,000 per household.

To qualify for the program, Venetian employees -- and Las Vegans living in zip code areas 89101, 89109 and 89030 -- must meet the following financial criteria:

The IDA account must be established through First Security Bank. In addition to administering the accounts, the bank is not charging fees for participants; that's a departure from standard practices, where fees are charged if an account dips below a designated savings level.

"These types of programs are offered in other states, but to my knowledge this is the first time our bank is involved in such a program," said First Security Vice President Frances Odom. "We truly believe it's a good project, because it's quite a challenge for people in low-income households to start saving money."

Odom said the "monetary initiative" of IDA matching funds is expected to provide further incentive for participants to set savings goals.

Due to the limited funds available, the program will only accommodate about 70 people. Participants must make a three-year commitment, although the program can stretch to five years if required.

Bailey-Tureaud said she hopes the IDA initiative will spur other private sector employers to join in similar programs.

"That's really one of the main purposes of this project, to try and encourage other local employers -- casinos and others -- to get involved in something similar," she said.

Several major casinos were among the employers approached to participate in the IDA program. However, Bailey-Tureaud said only the Venetian was willing to "take a chance" and move swiftly enough to meet federal deadlines.

"Our goal is to empower our employees to strive for more. We want to give them a chance to pursue the home of their dreams and an opportunity to obtain the education they deserve," said Dave Newton, vice president of human resources at the Venetian.

Competition for federal funds was stiff, and Nevada was only one of a select handful of states chosen to receive funding.

"There were a lot of other states looking to join, but we were fortunate to have a strong private-sector partner and that aided our efforts," she said.

Several financial professionals will assist with the IDA educational program, encompassing six weeks of financial management training.

"We will have several skilled professionals, both from real estate and the financial community, assisting with our IDA training," said Bailey-Tureaud. "Classes will start in February for about 20 Venetian employees, and other classes will be held later on."

Once established, the IDA account funds can only be used for one of the three designated purposes; withdrawals are not allowed for any reason during the first six months, and after that only under "emergency" conditions.

If she's able to lure other private sector partners into similar joint ventures, Bailey-Tureaud said additional federal funding for programs similar to the IDA initiative would likely become available.

"The money's there, it's really just a matter of having a private employer willing to join in," she said.