JumpStart

West CAP is a community-based organization operating in a 7-county area proximate to the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1998, administrators of the organization developed a hypotheses regarding the transportation problems of Welfare-to-Work households in a rural area. It was believed that only the private automobile could meet all of the needs of TANF or Wisconsin Works (W-2) households. The agency developed resources to launch a facilitated-automobile purchase program named JumpStart. The program provides down payment loans and case management support. In order to provide low-interest loans to clients, West CAP developed partnerships with credit unions, obtaining preferential interest rates. In order to provide the lowest possible prices, the agency took the innovative step of becoming an automobile dealer, able to purchase at wholesale automobile auctions.

The goal of this program is to assist low-income households in obtaining a personal vehicle.

JumpStart has helped 90 eligible households. Evaluation of the program shows that that combined interest and price saving average $3,900 per client household, and that the program provides its services at reasonable public cost. A survey of clients owning program vehicles for 6-months or more provides evidence of success in terms of the income development purposes of the program. In fact, the program data and client survey results argue strongly that ownership of a private automobile is a key element of success in obtaining the "assets" of independence: job training or education, a good job, health care, child care, social supports, and even self-esteem and family/community relationships.