BROKEN BOW – For 27 years, the Central Plains Center for Services has been keeping its head down and accomplishing its mission: helping unconnected youth throughout the state of Nebraska prepare for their futures psychologically, socially, and financially.
In that time, the agency has expanded to touch nearly every corner of the state outside of Douglas and Sarpy Counties, with recent offices established in Lincoln, and helped countless youth between the ages of 14 and 26 grow to become the best versions of themselves.
Chief Executive Director Andra White attributes no small part of the organization’s ongoing success to where Central Plains calls home.
“We’ve always been based out of Broken Bow, and always will be. We want to keep our rural identity; it makes us who we are.”
Given the work that White and her statewide team of about 40 have dedicated to outfitting Nebraska’s underserved kids with a toolset to last a lifetime, the only surprise with the Central Plains Center for Services’ receiving a $75,000 check then, it seems, is that it doesn’t happen more often.
These funds, courtesy of Healthy Blue Nebraska, will go toward Central Plains’ “Opportunity Passport,” a match savings and asset-building program, which includes almost every element to help grow a healthy checkbook, from financial literacy, asset-specific training, and access to an Independent Living Coach.
The program, White says, has exploded in the past year, with Central Plains lending a hand to about 1700 youth across the state, a number all the more impressive considering how it’s made possible.
“We put on a lot of miles, and wherever that kid is, we go there for service, they never have to come to us.”
The “Opportunity Passport,” a facet of the Central Plains’ broader PALS Program, requires all those enrolled to complete a financial literacy program, standardized throughout the Central Plains service area, at which point they become eligible for asset matching. A 2:1 match is available for education or credit-building, for example, while a 4:1 match is possible for a vehicle purchase.
That order of operations is key, White says, for a young person’s financial success when transitioning beyond the program.
“Once they’ve completed the curriculum, then they can start saving for a match. In order to do that, they must have a savings account; and it’s possible they haven’t always trusted banks. For them to have a working banking relationship is really important.”
The money from Healthy Blue Nebraska will be used by the Central Plains Center for Services to directly supplement its matching program, all $75,000 of it, which will go a long way to improving the futures of Nebraska’s youth, and the future of Nebraska.
