MARCH 2022

Message from Treasurer Stacy Garrity

A belated Happy New Year to you all! As this is our first newsletter issue of 2022, I want to take an opportunity to personally thank you for all you do to support Keystone Scholars. With Keystone Scholars program, every child born in 2019 and after now has $100 invested for postsecondary education savings in their name. To date, that's more than 370,000 eligible children — and nearly 40,000 of them have already claimed their Keystone Scholars funds.

Another year means about 130,000 more PA newborns' families to engage with about the program, and we can't do it without you.

Every child's account is created automatically soon after their birth, with no family action required. But logging in is still important, so that families can see with their own eyes that they have a jumpstart on their child's future education savings. Logging in sounds like a small thing, but it's so important — by engaging with their account, we know that parents and children benefit not only financially, but socially and emotionally too.

So please, keep up the good work! Over time, awareness of Keystone Scholars is spreading, and as it does, hope and high expectations for a bright future will, too!

2021 Annual Report

Hot off the presses! Read how the Keystone Scholars program has grown over the past year, thanks in large part to our partners. Check out pages 17-19 of the report to see how your county is doing.

Some outreach related highlights from the report include:

• The Bright Future Booster provided an additional $50 deposit into the Keystone Scholars accounts of babies born between January 1 and June 30, 2021, to mothers enrolled in WIC. Analysis by our researchers found that the gap in registration rate between babies born to mothers enrolled in WIC vs. those who aren't is now the lowest it has ever been. Overall, the WIC registration rate has increased 13% for the first five birth months of 2021 as compared to 2020. Since one of the objectives of the Bright Future Booster pilot was to increase awareness of Keystone Scholars amongst lower income families (those who participate in WIC), we see this as a great achievement due in large part to WIC agencies and other partners who helped spread the word.

• All birth certificate mailings from the PA Department of Health now include Keystone Scholars messaging on a flyer insert. The fact that all families of newborns now receive Keystone Scholars information when receiving their birth certificate is an important step not only in raising awareness, but also in increasing trust in the program.
  
  

  
  
  
  

• Joint outreach with the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP) to all 2,300+ PA AAP members in the state included a letter from Treasurer Garrity and PA AAP's President encouraging them to promote Keystone Scholars in their work. The mailing included promotional posters to hang in doctors’ offices, and a research summary on the benefits of Child Development Accounts like Keystone Scholars.

• Dr. Zoe Bouchelle and Dr. George Dalembert, pediatricians at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, published this terrific op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Their column encourages families to register for Keystone Scholars, to open their own PA 529 account and start saving early. Moreover, it highlights the health and wellbeing benefits of Keystone Scholars and programs like it. Please share it broadly with your networks!

Other News

Keystone Scholars was one of 14 Child Development Account programs featured in the recent report by the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity at Brandeis University “Seeds of Equity: Fostering Inclusivity in Children’s Savings Account Programs.”

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