The objective of the My Child's Future project is to increase the number of low and moderate income Canadians saving in RESPs for their child's education. It has been shown that a small amount of savings increases the chance that a child will go on to study at the post-secondary level.

In response, the government has introduced new measures to improve and increase the uptake of RESPs. These include the Canada Learning Bond (CLB), the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) as well as certain provincial incentives. The CLB is available to families who receive the National Child Benefit Supplement (NCBS) and offers a one-time grant of $500 paid into an eligible RESP and $100 a year for up to 15 years. In total, the maximum CLB available for a child could amount to $2,000 without any contributions from family members. The CESG matches the contributions families make to eligible RESPs by 20% – 40%.

Regardless of these incentives, the uptake of RESPs and the affiliated benefits has been low among certain income groups. The government has responded by funding SEDI to provide community-based supports to assist these target groups in enrolling and saving in RESPs.

The My Child's Future project will reach out to over 5,000 lower and moderate income Canadians through marketing, recruitment, and the delivery of support services. The 4 communities selected to deliver the project across the country are Winnipeg (MB), Toronto (ON), Montreal (PQ) and Halifax (NS). SEDI will oversee the design and development of the project while selected delivery agents will be responsible for the outreach and participant support work.

In addition to revealing these savings incentives and vehicles to participants, this project will seek to build their financial literacy skills (also known as ‘financial capability'). Some of the participants who identify a weakness in their financial literacy skills will be offered the opportunity to attend workshops. These workshops will serve to strengthen participant's knowledge, competence and responsibility and prepare them for future financial decision-making while saving in their RESPs.

Timeline: June 1 2007- May 31 2010

Delivery Agents:

This project was made possible through funding from the Department of Human Resources and Social Development's Education Savings Incentives Outreach.