State Asset Building Initiatives

The Finance Project

http://www.financeproject.org

Founded in 1994, The Finance Project provides research, consulting, technical assistance and training to assist in the development of polices, programs, and financing strategies for community development efforts. Read more about The Finance Project...

The Community Giving Resource

http://www.communitygivingresource.org

Funded by the Aspen Institute and the Neighborhood Funders Group, The Community Giving Resource is a free resource for donors and small family foundations committed to helping low-income communities and individuals. The group aims to summarize research on community wealth building, including state asset policy initiatives, to help smaller foundations more effectively support struggling neighborhoods and communities. Read more about The Community Giving Resource...

Center for Financial Services Innovation

http://www.cfsinnovation.com

Founded in 2004 as an affiliate of ShoreBank, a community development bank, and with funding from the Ford Foundation, CFSI aims to assist the financial services industry to identify, develop, and implement innovative ways of delivering community wealth building opportunities to un-banked Americans in ways that both meet the needs of low-income Americans while generating a viable market for commercial banks. Read more about Center for Financial Services Innovation...

New America Foundation: State Asset Policy Initiatives

http://www.newamerica.net/programs/asset_building

New America defines asset building as “public policy and private sector efforts to enable persons with limited financial resources to accumulate and preserve long-term, productive assets—savings, investments, a home, post-secondary education and training, a small business, and a nest-egg for retirement.” As part of its overall asset building program, the New America Foundation tracks a wide range of state asset policy initiatives. The group also provides support for the development of asset policy. Read more about New America Foundation: State Asset Policy Initiatives...

National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders

http://www.nalcab.org

NALCAB is the national voice for a diverse group of Latino-led community development corporations and other community-based organizations that focus on asset building. The group aims to build financial and human assets as well as real estate and technology resources in Latino families, communities, and organizations. Read more about National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders...

Institute on Asset and Social Policy (Brandeis University)

http://www.assetinstitute.org

Formerly known as the Asset Development Institute, the Institute on Assets & Social Policy aims to promote and advance individual asset-building policy choices that promise to reduce hunger and poverty in the nation by addressing their root causes. Its mission is to broaden and redefine the asset development concept and familiarize the public, media, and policy leaders with the asset development approach. Read more about Institute on Asset and Social Policy (Brandeis University)...

CFED (formerly Corporation for Enterprise Development)

http://www.cfed.org

CFED works both on a policy level and with community organizations to achieve greater social equity, alleviate poverty and develop a more sustainable economy by helping low and moderate income Americans save and access capital. CFED supports community wealth building through savings incentives, entrepreneurship, local community development, and other efforts that enable people with limited incomes to save and invest. Read more about CFED (formerly Corporation for Enterprise Development)...

Center for Social Development

http://csd.wustl.edu/

The Center for Social Development (CSD) is part of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. CSD publishes a wide variety of studies on asset policy strategies and provides assistance for groups pursuing asset-building strategies. Their website includes information on state asset policy, individual development accounts, tribal economies, and community development financial institutions. Read more about Center for Social Development...

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

http://www.cbpp.org/pubs/eitc.htm

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities provides research and technical assistance support for state initiatives. The Center's Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) website includes a variety of publications both on the effect of the federal earned income tax credit and on efforts to establish similar credits to build assets among the working poor at the state level. Read more about Center on Budget and Policy Priorities...

Asset Building Strategies

http://www.assetbuildingstrategies.com/

Heather McCulloch, a principal in Asset Building Strategies, is an asset policy consultant based in San Francisco, California. She has authored a number of reports on community wealth building, including Promoting Economic Security for Working Families: State Asset-Building Initiatives, which reviews efforts in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. She is also a co-founder and member of the Executive Committee of the Asset Policy Initiative of California (APIC) and a member of the consulting team for the Ho'o`waiwai Asset Policy Initiative of Hawaii. Read more about Asset Building Strategies...

Washington Asset Building Coalition

http://www.washingtonabc.org

Formed in 2006, the Washington Asset Building Coalition (WABC) is composed of 70 private, public, and nonprofit members including financial institutions, social service providers, and housing and micro-enterprise groups. The WABC policy agenda consists of expanding financial fitness, supporting saving and investment, and removing barriers to asset-building. Policy initiatives include Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) outreach, state funds dedicated to IDAs, modifying asset limits, and a state Working Families Rebate. Read more about Washington Asset Building Coalition...

RAISE (Resources, Assets, Investments, Savings, Education) Texas

http://www.raisetexas.org

This statewide network includes nonprofit, for-profit, and public organizations that collaborate to support assert-building among low- and moderate-income families. Using financial education, IDAs, children’s savings accounts, and community tax centers, RAISE Texas works to increase economic security. Their four main activities include policy advocacy, furthering progress on several action campaigns such as small dollar consumer loans and matched savings accounts, providing technical assistance, and an interactive online database that connects residents to local asset-building programs. Read more about RAISE (Resources, Assets, Investments, Savings, Education) Texas...

Massachusetts IDAs (MIDAS)

http://www.massassets.org

MIDAS is a coalition of community-based nonprofits across the state that promotes asset building among low-income residents. This collaborative serves as facilitator of a statewide system of asset development programs and performance standards. MIDAS provides technical assistance, research, and training to asset development programs and has partnered with CEFD to advocate asset-building policy through the 2007-2008 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard. MIDAS also has several programs to provide fiscal assistance in order to expand access to IDAs. Read more about Massachusetts IDAs (MIDAS)...

Illinois Asset Building Group

http://www.illinoisassetbuilding.org

The Illinois Asset Building Group, first convened by the Woods Fund of Chicago in 2003, has proposed an extensive policy agenda that includes expanding access to financial education and financial services, removing asset barriers in public benefit programs, supporting children's savings accounts, promoting affordable housing and homeownership, and combating predatory lending.  Aiming to close the racial wealth gap, expand savings opportunities, and protect Illinoisans from predatory financial practices, the Chicago-based group focuses on policy development, coalition building, stakeholder engagement, educating policymakers, and advocacy.

Read more about Illinois Asset Building Group...

IDA and Asset Building Coalition of North Carolina

http://www.ncidacollaborative.org

NC IDA is the central coordinating agency of asset-based development in the state. Offering training and technical assistance for new IDA programs; fostering partnerships among IDA practitioners, policy makers, and funders; and researching new asset-building strategies, NC IDA seeks a synchronized statewide network of public and private partners that promote asset-building among low-income residents. Read more about IDA and Asset Building Coalition of North Carolina...

Ho'owaiwai Asset Policy Initiative —Hawaii Alliance for Community Economic Development

http://www.hacbed.org

Founded in 1992, HACED launched its Ho'owaiwai Asset Policy Initiative in 2004 after a conference attended by more than 250 participants from across the state. Initiative leaders are advancing a variety of community wealth building policies, including the extension of the state individual development account tax credit, the implementation of a voluntary tax assistance program, and the establishment of a state Earned Income Tax Credit. Read more about Ho'owaiwai Asset Policy Initiative —Hawaii Alliance for Community Economic Development...

Help Minnesota Save

http://www.helpmnsave.org

This is an online clearinghouse of information and resources for financial literacy practitioners who work directly with low-income individuals and families. With a central mission to help low-income consumers reach financial well-being through access to quality credit and loans, Help Minnesota Save offers information on various financial topics like budgeting, building good credit, debt reduction, IDA programs, and taxes. Read more about Help Minnesota Save...

Arkansas Assets Coalition

http://www.arassetpolicy.org

The Arkansas Assets Coalition (ACC) is a nonprofit organization that helps construct IDA programs throughout the state through offering technical assistance and capacity building. ACC was launched in 2000 after the passage of Arkansas Individual Development Account legislation. Read more about Arkansas Assets Coalition...