Shriver Center’s 2007 Community Investment Agenda

By promoting national, state, and local advocacy and model programs that help people build, own, and protect personal and financial assets, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law’s Community Investment Unit takes action to end poverty. On the national level, the Community Investment Unit’s top policy initiatives for 2007 include

• adopting universal, progressive children’s savings accounts for every child in America;
• reforming asset limits in public benefit programs such as food stamps and Supplemental Security Income by eliminating asset limits, exempting asset categories, or raising asset limits;
• protecting consumers from predatory lending and opposing federal preemption of state consumer protection laws that offer greater protection; and
• promoting financial access and asset building for all, including the unbanked and underserved.

On the state level in Illinois the Community Investment Unit plans these policy initiatives:

• creating children’s savings accounts for all Illinois children and supporting the Illinois Asset Building Group’s bill in 2007 to create a statewide task force.
• expanding asset-building opportunities for low-wage workers. The Community Investment Unit supports the development of a portable retirement savings account for  small businesses, employees, and the self-employed who do not participate in traditional pension plans or 401K programs. The unit will work to expand Individual Development Account programs to enable more low-income adults to buy a home, start a business, or pursue postsecondary education. The unit aims to reform asset limits in state-administered public assistance programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Food Stamp Program, and Medicaid.
• protecting consumers from predatory lending. The Community Investment Unit will work to cap interest rates on predatory lending (e.g., payday, tax refund anticipation, mortgage, rent-to-own) at 36 percent. The unit supports prohibiting the deposit of state funds in any financial institution that participates, directly or indirectly, in predatory lending. The unit will advocate the creation of a state office of financial education and a website with useful information for adults and kids on financial topics, including predatory lending. The unit will work to incorporate financial literacy in K-12 public education will support grants to banks and credit unions to partner with schools and nonprofit entities to develop student-run banks.
• promoting financial access and asset building for all, including the unbanked and underserved. The Community Investment Unit will encourage banks and credit unions to locate in and serve underserved areas of the state, especially low-income, minority, and immigrant communities with higher rates of unbanked, underserved, and asset-poor households. The unit aims to strengthen the Illinois Banking Development District law by focusing on underserved areas and to educate financial institutions on how to reach out legally to immigrant communities by accepting individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITIN) and alternative identification to open bank accounts and receive loans. The unit will promote the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s affordable Opportunity I-Loan program to expand home ownership for persons with limited credit history. The unit advocates linking the deposit of state funds to banks with outstanding Community Reinvestment Act  ratings and Community Development Financial Institutions  that serve low-income and underserved areas.

For more information or to get involved in these policy issues, contact Dory Rand, the Shriver Center’s supervising attorney for community investment, at 312.368.2007 or doryrand@povertylaw.org.