Community Investment Unit

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.

Asset Building News

Sign up to receive our free monthly newsletter, Asset Building News. Each issue features the latest information on asset building strategies for low-income persons. Topics regularly covered include credit reporting, small dollar lending, asset building for special populations, universal voluntary retirement accounts, child savings accounts, and more.

The Business Case for Offering Alternative Small Dollar Loan Products

Small dollar loan products can help lower wealth families who are struggling to make ends meet, creating a “win-win” situation for both consumers and financial institutions. The Illinois Asset Building Group (IABG) has released a report that builds a business case for mainstream financial institutions to offer responsible, affordable, small dollar loan products as alternatives to payday loan products. Small dollar loan products can help lower wealth families who are struggling to make ends meet, creating a “win-win” situation for both consumers and financial institutions. The Shriver Center contributed to this report. IABG is a diverse statewide coalition invested in building the stability and strength of Illinois communities through increased asset ownership and asset protection.

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.

• Accessible Assets 2: Asset Development Strategies for People with Disabilities
  
• The Next Frontier in Public Assistance: Electronic Benefit Cards
  
• Alternative Credit Reporting
  
• Universal Voluntary Retirement Accounts
  
• Asset Building and the Disability Community
• Integrating Asset Building Opportunities into Domestic Violence Advocacy
  

From the Headlines

• Statement on Nomination Hearing for Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (September 6, 2011)
• Fact Sheet on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (September 2011)
  
• 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
  

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