About the Asset-Building Field
DID YOU KNOW?
In Fiscal Year 2005, the federal government allocated $367 billion to asset-building policies designed to help Americans build their savings and accumulate wealth.
Assets move families beyond living paycheck to paycheck and give them tools to plan for the future.
CFED and its partners have long been advocates for state and federal asset-building policies and the role they play in alleviating poverty and bolstering financial security for individuals and families.
In the 1990's CFED and its partners led the development of the Individual Development Account (IDA) and asset-building field. They organized the seminal American Dream Demonstration, which led to the creation of the Assets for Independence (AFI) Program within the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services's (HHS) Office of Community Services (OCS). These efforts have significantly contributed to the creation of the nearly 600 IDA programs in existence nationwide today.
More recently, CFED and its partners launched the SEED (Saving for Education, Entrepreneurship and Downpayment) Initiative to develop, test and promote a progressive and universal system of matched savings accounts for children. Local, state and federal children's savings account legislation has already been developed and is being pursued across the United States.
CFED's 2007-2008 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard looks at how families are doing across the states, and measures state policies that affect this picture. Organized by state, race, gender and income, the Scorecard provides the most comprehensive assessment of financial security, business development, homeownership, health care and education assets of the states available today. It offers a sharply strategic view both of the economic drivers and of the asset-building policies that can accelerate the spread of economic opportunity. CFED will release a special supplement to the Scorecard that updates the data related to household net worth and asset poverty in light of the current economy and outline effective strategies for asset preservation.
Through their work, CFED and its partners have learned the critical importance of state and federal policy development that supports not only IDAs but also larger matched savings, financial education and asset-building strategies.
We are at a crossroads. Asset and income inequality continues to increase and low-wage and middle-income working Americans are finding it more difficult to achieve and maintain economic stability. At the same time, Americans' awareness of the importance of assets as a fundamental building block for economic stability is growing and so are the opportunities to promote prosperity through public and private policies.