A hand up: 'Individual Development Accounts' help people save for homes, businesses and education expenses.

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It wasn't so long ago that Norma Jean Esmailka and her family lived in a makeshift shelter in the woods near the University of Alaska Anchorage.

These days, a pretty door with a stained-glass window and a deadbolt welcomes the family to its new three-bedroom home in Mountain View.

"I wouldn't be in this house if it wasn't for that program," said Norma Jean Esmailka of the Individual Development Account program, offered through the Cook Inlet Tribal Council Inc. Career Development Center.

Individual Development Accounts are a relatively new form of matched savings accounts that enable income-eligible families to save for assets like a home, education expenses or business development.

CITCI Senior Manager Carol Wren said the matched savings and financial education program is Alaska's oldest and the largest in the country specifically for Alaska Native and American Indian people.

"They come into the program not understanding credit scores and assets in general," Wren said. "They leave the program with an asset and with knowledge."

Banks, consumer credit counseling services--all those businesses have benefited in some way, she said.

"This program has contributed significantly to our community," Wren said.

Over the years, since the Congress approved the first Individual Development Accounts in 1996, several IDA programs have come and gone in Alaska. At present, there are at least two active programs: the Alaska Business Development Center Inc. program funded in January through a grant from the Department of Health and Human services. And CITCI's program, funded in 1998 by Congress as part of a five-year, $125 million "Assets for Independence Act."

CLIMBING OUT OF THE HOLE

It's been almost 10 years since Norma Jean woke up under a tarp after another night of drinking, shook her head and thought, "What the hell am I doing?"

That's when she said she started working to climb out of the hole she'd dug for herself.

CITCI helped her with job training and after volunteering as a file clerk for the nonprofit, she eventually landed a job there as a receptionist. She's changed jobs now.

Norma Jean is still paying back her old debt to clean up her credit report and making a mortgage payment she qualified for based on her personal income and credit score.

"She went through two years of hell," David said of his partner Norma Jean. "I never thought it was real until we moved in."

Raised in Nulato, she moved to Anchorage in 1994. Norma Jean has two grown daughters and two younger children--daughter Zena, 6, and Clifford, 3.

"I'm doing this for them--so they'll have something," Norma Jean said of her children.

Michelle Kern of Alaska Business Development Center Inc. said the grant it received offers IDA matched savings opportunities to qualified rural Alaskans statewide.

To design and help fund the IDA program, Kern said the nonprofit partnered with Coastal Villages Regional Fund, Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association, Aleut Community of St. Paul Island and the Division of Investments.

CHANGING PEOPLE'S SAVING HABITS

Norma Jean opened her IDA account in November 2004. And every month a portion of her pay was direct deposited into the account she set up through CITCI to match her savings toward a down payment on a home.

It took her two years to save the maximum $800 eligible for CITCI's 5:1 match. Most of the funding for that $4,000 matching money comes from a five-year federal grant and the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, Wren said.

Other CITCI IDA program partners include The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, Wells Fargo, Cook Inlet Housing Authority and Consumer Credit Counseling Services.

Kim Henry, an IDA specialist with CITCI, said participants are required to save $10 a month from earned income and attend mandatory literacy classes.

"They leave with a real understanding of their financial future," she said.

Participants also have to take asset-specific training depending on whether they are saving toward a business, an education, or the purchase of a home, she said.

"We're trying to change people's saving habits," Henry said. "We are a nation of spenders. Not a nation of savers."

For more information, contact Carol Wren at CITCI by phone at 793-3371 or by e-mail at [e-mail]; Michelle Kern at Alaska Business Development Center Inc. by phone at 562-0335 or by e-mail at [e-mail];