Roots to Retention
Many working families in North Central Washington have little left over to save. Without savings, a reliable car, a paid-off loan, or a down payment on a house stays out of reach.
Matched Investment Savings Accounts (MISAs) change that equation. Through the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Community Reinvestment initiative, eligible participants enrolled in career training with SkillSource can set aside part of their own earnings while they train. Those savings are matched, and the combined funds go toward a pre-approved goal: a reliable car, paying down debt, launching a business, or a down payment on a house.
MISA pairs career training with asset building. Participants earn their degree or credential and build a financial foundation at the same time. Several have now used their matched savings to even buy houses, and Kasey and Marcelo are two of them.
Kasey is a full-time Registered Nurse at Central Washington Hospital, one of the most in-demand roles in the region. She enrolled in SkillSource services in 2024, already an LPN working on-call shifts at the hospital and in her second year of the registered nursing degree at Wenatchee Valley College. Her self-sufficiency level at enrollment was 30%, meaning her income covered less than a third of her basic living costs. Education funding and guidance from her SkillSource career counselor supported her through the nursing program to become an RN, and Central Washington Hospital hired her full-time in June 2025. Her self-sufficiency level is now 197%, and she is happily settling into her new home.
“While I was in nursing school, I learned about SkillSource and the savings account,” Kasey said. “I thought it was a good idea because I wanted to prepare for my future.” She built her down payment in a MISA, and the match made homeownership possible.
Marcelo, now a father of four, was underemployed in a part-time hospitality job when he came to SkillSource in 2023. With guidance from his career counselor, he began Environmental Systems and Refrigeration Technology training at Wenatchee Valley College. Tuition assistance and Economic Security for All (EcSA) learning incentives helped him stay in training. His career counselor helped him open a MISA in November 2024 and he graduated in spring 2025. ATS Automation hired him full-time as a Control Technician, and his matched savings became the down payment on a house for his family.
Richie, a recovery counselor who used his MISA to give two foster sons a stable place to grow up, is another. Many more participants are in training right now, working toward a degree or credential and a savings goal at the same time. Each will finish with a career and a financial foundation that would have stayed out of reach without these matched savings opportunities (or investments).
People who train here and buy houses here put down roots, and those roots keep North Central Washington’s workforce strong. We retain our nurses, our technicians, and our counselors. And then the next generation can build successful lives upon the stable foundation that their parents laid through training.
