Savings, education get Jay's life back on track

Jay Jean was a young man in a hurry.

At age 17, barely out of high school, the Seacoast native hustled off to a three-year degree program in electronics engineering. “I was on a fast track to get a skill and start a career right away,” he says.

Then, like a train that vanishes into fog, Jay’s dreams vaporized. First came a debilitating depression, with an inability to sleep or concentrate on studies. Then came voices that distracted and doubted him. Then anxiety attacks.

Jay came home, and for the next 15 years his life was upended by schizo-depressive disorder.

Eventually, medication calmed Jay’s symptoms without clouding his emotions and judgment. He returned to school – on a much-slower schedule. Jay earned an associate’s degree, a human services certificate, then a bachelor’s in human services.

By fall of 2009, after years of struggle, Jay craved self-sufficiency. “My goal is to get off of the disability insurance, the housing assistance, all the benefits,” he says.

He also wanted to become a mental health counselor, to pass on the help he had received. To do that, he needed a master’s degree. A federal work incentive program would pay for most of it, but Jay had to contribute financially.

A counselor told him about Individual Development Accounts, which provide matched savings and financial training for people with low incomes who seek education, a home, a business or a vehicle. Jay saved enough to receive a $4,000 match, and qualified for the federal help.

A year into the master’s program, he had a 4.0 average. He worked two days a week with adults with autism and interned another day a week. The degree and the experience he needed to provide for himself and to pass on the help he has received were within his sights.

“The IDA really made it possible,” he says.

This story was published in the Community Loan Fund's 2009 Annual Report.