Juanita Kalama Santiago first became involved with WSCAT in 2019, when she needed a new car. She took a financial education class and saved for a little over a year before purchasing a 2011 Nissan Murano. It had only one previous owner and 48,000 miles on it, so she was confident it would meet her needs. She was able to use her IDA as a down payment and finance the rest of the vehicle to build her credit score. 

Since then, she has enrolled in another IDA to pay down her debt. She met with a credit counselor to pull a credit report and develop a plan to pay down the debt. Once the plan was developed, she began paying her debts and it has already helped improve her credit immensely. 

She learned a lot through the process and it is helping her meet her current goal of homeownership. In 2023, she took the Pathways Home course and began learning what it would take to purchase a home. Although she hopes to save for a home, she is currently continuing to pay off her debt and believes that the homeownership process will come together in due time. Since she is not a member of the Warm Springs tribe, it will take time to get a home built or set up a manufactured home and she is being patient and doing what she can in the meantime.

In addition to her own IDA account, she has seen the success of the program through both her daughters and continues to promote the program within the community.