Community Investment Unit

The Payday Loan Grinch sings carols to warn consumers about dangerous payday installment loans at a rally on December 17, 2009, in support of the Egan Campaign for Payday Loan reform.

Enact the Consumer Financial Protection Agency

The Shriver Center supports the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to elevate the importance of consumer protection, to take prompt action to prevent harm, and to end the ability of companies to shop for the most lax regulator. Watch this video, sponsored by the Consumer Federation of America and Americans for Financial Reform, and  for more information.

Shriver Center's Community Investment Unit Receives the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Chairman's Award for Innovation in Financial Education for the Chicago Region

About Us

What is Asset Poverty?

While income poverty is a term many people are aware of, asset poverty includes those households that do not have enough in assets to meet their expenses for three months if all outside sources of income were to disappear. Assets, both personal and financial, are the foundation for long-term stability and success. To learn more, visit www.illinoisassetbuilding.org.

The Shriver Center's Community Investment Unit takes action against poverty on three fronts: building assets, expanding ownership, and protecting consumers. Through progressive policy and effective advocacy, the CIU helps communities avoid a cycle of debt, making asset ownership available and sustainable for everyone.

Webinars on Asset-Building

The Shriver Center's Community Investment Unit has recently hosted two webinars on asset-building strategies for special populations. Recordings of the webinars, copies of the presentations, and links to relevant resources are available below.

• Universal Voluntary Retirement Accounts
  
• Asset Building and the Disability Community
• Integrating Asset Building Opportunities into Domestic Violence Advocacy
  

From the Headlines

• 2009-2010 Assets and Opportunities Scorecard Released
  The financial security of families is often dependent not only on individual’s abilities but also on the opportunities afforded by state policy.  The Corporation for Enterprise Development’s (CFED) 2009-2010 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard uses an asset building approach to analyzing data on wealth and poverty to rank the 50 states and the District of Columbia on their policies affecting citizen’s financial security and what states can do to help residents build and protect assets.
• Seeing Red: The Rising Costs of Care and a Failing Economy Drive More Americans into Medical Debt, Washington Post, January 13, 2009
  
• The Debt Trap: Colleges Profit as Banks Market Credit Cards to Students, New York Times, December 31, 2008
  
• Federal Reserve Board Releases Final Rule on Credit Cards, Consumers Union
• Unfinished Business: Consumers Need More Protection from Unfair Credit Card Practices, Consumers Union, December 19, 2008
  
• California Helping Poor and Immigrants Open and Maintain Bank Accounts, New York Times, December 11, 2008
• California Helps Poor Families Build Savings Accounts, Sacramento Bee, December 13, 2008
• Editorial: No Bank Account? Time to Change That, Sacramento Bee, December 12, 2008
• Proposal to Target Internet Lending in Oklahoma, The Oklahoman, December 14, 2008
• Car Title Loans in Line for Scrutiny, The Free Lance-Star (Virginia), December 14, 1008

Recent Blog Posts

• Arizona and Ohio Ballot Measures May Curtail Reasonable Payday Loan Regulations

• Illinois v. Countrywide
• An Era of Change: LiLAs Spark Workforce Development
• Is Our Financial Debt Making Us Sick?
• Congress Falls Short in Addressing Foreclosure Crisis
• Plan for Rain or Retirement with Tax Refunds and Stimulus Payments
• California Unveils Portable Retirement Accounts