The Safe Haven Bank was developed to teach the Youth Safe Haven participants real world money management skills.

It was developed as a collaboration between the
Somersworth Youth Safe Haven and the Bank of
New Hampshire (Pauline Ikowa and Intern
Jason Gibisch).

The Safe Haven Bank was first introduced
during the Summer Program of 2002 and
features three account types:

• Savings
• Checking
• Simple (for pre-readers/ writers)

During the Summer youth earn Safe Haven
money by doing neighborhood cleanups and
during the school year by completing their
homework.

Please note: Safe Haven Money is not real currency, Safe Haven money is "play money" that can only be used within the Safe Haven program.

Youth earn weekly interest on the "money" in their accounts (1 Safe Haven Dollar for every $20 in their accounts) .

The "money" is used to pay for fun monthly field trips and occasional Safe Haven Stores.

The SYSH has 3 Safe Haven Stores during the year:

• Christmas Store - participants can spend their "money" on gifts for their family.
• End of School Year Store - participants can purchase those essential items to make summer fun.
• End of Summer Store - participants can purchase their school supplies like bookbags, bookcovers, pens, pencils, etc...

All participants' account balances are posted on the wall every Monday so youth can check how much they have earned at any time.