Illinois Asset Building Group Debuts with Release of Assets and Opportunities Scorecard

The Illinois Asset Building Group (IABG), a new coalition of community leaders, service providers, researchers, advocates, and labor and business leaders, pursuing policy change to build the financial strength and economic success of families and communities in Illinois, will host, together with the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and the CFED, policy briefings in Springfield and Chicago to discuss the results of CFED’s 2005 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard and its implications for Illinois. The Scorecard describes why assets are important, highlights national trends and key findings, grades and ranks states on asset outcomes in five areas (financial security, business development, homeownership, health care, and education), and analyzes state asset-building and tax policies.

The Scorecard is a valuable tool for IABG’s work because it comprehensively measures where Illinois stands in building and maintaining assets. Policymakers and advocates can use the Scorecard results to forge policies that help close the wealth gap between rich and poor and expand opportunities for low-income people to move up the economic ladder.

CFED, a national nonprofit organization working to expand economic opportunity, will release the national results on May 17. Partner organizations in five states, including Illinois, will conduct local Scorecard events to highlight the results in their states. A policy briefing and breakfast for legislators, policymakers, media, foundations, and community groups will be held on May 20 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at the Executive Mansion in Springfield. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago will host a policy briefing on May 23 from 10:30 a.m. to noon as part of its annual MoneySmart Week activities. Both events will feature a new video, Building Savings and Ownership in America, about the history of public policies that help people move up the economic ladder and recent innovations such as Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and universal children’s savings accounts. Attendance at the Scorecard events is by invitation only. If you would like to receive an invitation, contact Dory Rand at the Shriver Center by April 28 (see contact information below).

IABG identifies the following priority areas for policy advocacy: lifelong education and training; universal health insurance; financial security; affordable housing, homeownership, and utilities; small-business development; transportation; and tax policy. IABG members will cite examples of successful asset-building initiatives and policies in Illinois, analyze the Illinois Scorecard results and implications, highlight pending Illinois legislation and appropriations that would promote IABG goals, and discuss IABG plans as part of the Scorecard policy briefings.

IABG is cochaired by the Shriver Center and Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. For more information or to join IABG, contact Dory Rand.