APRIL 2009
Dear Insights Readers:
Budgeting and saving are vital in our current economic downturn. This year has already seen record numbers of employed and foreclosures, but the goal of wealth building is to look toward the long term. The new Obama Administration has passed legislation to invest in the national infrastructure as well as additional tax incentives for working families. We are also heading into the final weeks before Tax Day, April 15th. If you have not already filed your taxes, call the IRS or your local library and find out if there is a free tax preparer in your community. This is also an opportunity to start a new savings account with a portion of your tax refund.
The Foundation for the Mid South continues to support the growth of IDA programs around the region and will also provide support for financial education and literacy as well as other asset building tools, like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Currently, Louisiana is the only state in our region that has a state EITC. The Department of Social Services is working hard to increase awareness and access of this credit. For more information, visit www.dss.state.la.us/eitc.
Learn more about our recent grants throughout the region and the work being done by the collaboratives in each of the states in the Mid South.
Southern Good Faith Fund / Pine Bluff, AR
Southern Good Faith Fund in partnership with the IRS offers free tax preparation for eligible Arkansans and continues to be a leader in advancing the building of assets –including new legislation on a housing trust fund. To learn more about Southern Good Faith Fund and the Arkansas Asset Building Coalition’s work, visit www.southerngoodfaithfund.org.
Center for Social Research, Southern University / Baton Rouge, LA
The Louisiana Asset Building Initiative partners continue to expand the number of programs around the state –providing access to IDAs for home ownership. The initiative has released its first newsletter and to learn more about their work or a program near you, visit http://www.subr.edu/socialresearch/IDA/index.htm.
Mississippi Asset Building Coalition/ Jackson, MS
The Mississippi Asset Building Coalition, formally the Mississippi IDA Program (MIDAP) introduced legislation for state funding of IDAs for the first time –the Family Savings Initiative Act. The co-sponsors were Senator Robert Jackson and Representative John Hines. Check out MSABC’s new website and learn more about their work and resources for IDA programs in Mississippi, www.missabc.org.
Policy recommendations in Louisiana
As reported in the Baton Rouge Advocate on March 24th, the Louisiana Child Poverty Prevention Council made a series of recommendations including doubling the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit from 3.5 percent to 7 percent of the federal credit. The Council made an increase in the state’s tax credit one of a handful of recommendations to address poverty in the state. In dollar terms, the federal tax credit is the nation’s largest anti-poverty initiative. An increase in the state credit would mean more money for some low-income workers. The recommendations must be approved by a joint meeting of the state Senate and House health and welfare committees. The federal poverty measure for a family of four in 2008 was $21,200.
Grant Opportunity for Nonprofit Organizations
The Federal Office of Community Services Community Economic Development grant is to help create business start-ups or business expansion in low-income communities; Letter of Intent is due April 28 - http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/HHS-2009-ACF-OCS-EE-0034.html.
SEED Monitoring Research Report Available
The Center for Social Development (CSD) announced the publication of the March 2009 SEED Account Monitoring research report. The report synthesizes over four years of data on 1,171 children and youth participating in SEED. CSD’s Account Monitoring research collected participant demographic data and tracked cash flow of SEED accounts from September 2003 through December 2007. Research findings provide a picture of SEED participant characteristics, measure levels of savings, and identify factors associated with savings. Read the full report, or read the research brief. Learn more about the SEED National Initiative, or learn more about child savings.
Financial Competence
McDonald’s and Visa Inc. have launched the country’s largest employer-based financial literacy program, “McDonald’s Practical Money Skills,” to empower employees with free, comprehensive money management tools. This program is available to more than 500,000 restaurant-level employees throughout the majority of the 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. The materials, which are based on Visa’s Practical Money Skills for Life financial education program, include a printed Wealth Watchers budgeting guide to track expenses and access to videos and resources on the web. All of the materials are available in both English and Spanish. For more information, read the press release at http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/english/presscenter/releases/120408.php.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
In an opinion piece released in March, What States Should Do: Help Struggling Families and Change the Trajectory of Our Economy, CFED Policy Director, Jennifer Brooks, makes the case for states to make wise use of federal money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and invest in asset building and economic opportunity policies. Click here to read the paper.
Color of Wealth 2009 Policy Summit
The Insight Center hosted the “Color of Wealth 2009 Policy Summit: Wealth Building for All: The Foundation for Economic Growth in the Global Marketplace” in Washington, DC at the end of March. The purpose of the gathering of over 75 asset-building experts of color from around the country was to engage and educate policymakers about the racial wealth gap and the need to take immediate action to help close it. For the past four years, the Insight Center for Community Economic Development and the Ford Foundation have brought together some of the leading minds on asset building from the African American, Latino, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Native American communities. The Initiative works to educate the media and policy makers about the magnitude of the racial wealth gap, why it is important for the economy as a whole to close it, and provide policy recommendations on how to effectively address racial economic inequality.
The United States government has always played a role in subsidizing and incentivizing asset building. In 2005 alone, the U.S. invested over $367 billion in such support, in line with a rich history of wealth-building policies and programs, from the Homestead Act to the G.I. Bill to the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction. But these and many other asset-building policies have excluded people of color either explicitly or in the way they have been implemented, and over the years, have increasingly favored those who already hold assets. As a result, despite years of progress toward racial equality, today the average family of color holds only fifteen cents worth of assets to the white family’s dollar.
Wealth (what you own minus what you owe), or assets, are what allow families to weather the inevitable economic ups and downs of life. Even more significant is the transformative role that wealth plays in enabling people to move up the social and economic ladder. Without money for college tuition, home ownership, business start-up, retirement pensions, or to give one’s children a boost, many people of color are stuck at the bottom end of the economy. And in a globally competitive economy, unleashing the potential of all America’s people to generate economic growth and to fulfill the promise of the American dream is essential, and depends on our nation’s commitment to helping these families build up their assets.
For more information on the racial wealth gap or Insight’s work, http://www.insightcced.org/communities/Closing-RWG.html
Arkansas
Arkansas Advocates for Children Little Rock –advocacy for a state EITC
Southern Good Faith Fund Pine Bluff –expand and strengthen asset building work and IDA access across the state
Louisiana
The Rural School and Community Trust Baton Rouge –support and expand youth managed tax services and youth IDA program
The Center for Social Research, Southern University Baton Rouge –expand IDA access across the state
Renewal, Inc Monroe –financial literacy and workforce training
Restaurant Opportunities Center of New Orleans New Orleans –advance restaurant workers’ wages, training, skills and leadership
Mississippi
Mississippi Asset Building Coalition Jackson –expand IDA access across the state
Mississippi Council on Economic Education Jackson –youth IDA program
The Perico Institute for Youth Development and Entrepreneurship, Inc. Jackson –youth IDA program
Throughout the year, we will highlight each of our grantees and the impact they are having in their communities. Stay tuned!
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If you have any ideas or comments about wealth building for future Insights issues or just want to say hello and tell FMS about your program, please contact Necole S. Irvin at 601.863.0495 or at nirvin@fndmidsouth.org.
Sincerely,
FMS Wealth Building Staff
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