Community Investment Unit
2010 Assets Learning Conference
CFED's annual assets learning conference, on September 22-24 in Washington, D.C., brings together a diverse group of leaders to discuss innovations, vision and strategies in assets practice, policy and research. Register today.
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.
- Alternative Credit Reporting
- 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
Recent Blog Posts
Read recent posts on asset building at our blog, The Shriver Brief.Building Assets
- Illinois Asset Building Group (IABG)
- Asset Policy Learning Circle
- State Asset-Building Coalition Directory
- CSD Asset Coalition Policy Report
- Financial Education Working Group
Combining asset building & work supports programs:
- Eliminating the Asset limit
- State Asset Limit Toolkit (S.A.L.T.)
- Financial Education as a TANF activity
Offering Financial Education through:
- Financial Links
- Savings for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment (SEED)
- Campaigns to Bank the Unbanked
Providing Access to Mainstream Financial Institutions through:
- Learn About Student-Run Banks in the June 2008 Clearinghouse Review
- Opening a High School Bank Branch
- Teen bank model generates interest in Philadelphia
- Check out our video - "Branching Out," the story
of student-run banks
- Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)
Calendar of Events
Protecting Consumers
- Payday Loan Reform Act
- Rate Caps: The Proven Cure To Payday Loan Debt
- Combating Predatory Lending with Monsignor Egan Campaign
- IRS Response to Refund Anticipation Loans
Expanding Ownership
- Universal Children's Savings Accounts (CSAs)
- Child Development Accounts (CDAs)
- Children's Savings Accounts State and National
Policy
- Saving for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment (SEED)
Retirement Accounts
Legislation Watch
CIU Publications
Get acquainted with asset building and asset protection
- Learn more about asset building and what state coalitions are doing at the ACTS website.
- Find IDA programs in your area at www.idanetwork.org
- Profitwise from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
- "Building Assets While Building Communities," H.
McCullough, February 2006
Partners
Community Investment Unit News
- Illinois Assocation of Mortgage Brokers v. Office of Banks and Real Estate
- District Court Ruling that Illinois Office of Banks and Real Estate Predatory Lending Regulations Are Not Preempted by Federal Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act Reversed by Seventh Circuit With Direction to Determine Which State Regulations Are Preempted
- California Unveils Portable Retirement Accounts
- Plan for Rain or Retirement with Tax Refunds and Stimulus Payments
- Congress Falls Short in Addressing Foreclosure Crisis
- Planning for the Stimulus Rebate: A Catalyst for Saving
