Purpose

The Assets Alliance is a capacity-building resource to help organizations expand the number of individuals and families participating in Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and asset-building opportunities.

Description

The Assets Alliance is a membership organization of experienced professionals from the Individual Development Account (IDA) and asset-building fields.  The Assets Alliance includes a number of initiatives that are dedicated to expanding the number of individuals and families participating in IDAs and asset-building opportunities by:

• Sharing effective practices, resources and tools
• Provision of ongoing learning, networking and communication

Periodic trainings are scheduled on starting and running IDA programs, providing effective financial education, and linking different asset building strategies to help different target markets achieve economic security as highlighted in the 2005 Assets Newsletter Number 2.  Alliance members also offer training and technical assistance services based on direct IDA and other community-based practice experience.  Tools and practice papers are developed based on information gleaned from the provision of technical assistance, the delivery of training, and research in the field. 

Organizations may obtain assistance by contacting the Assets Alliance or a member of the Alliance.

Related resources for IDA and asset-building initiatives are available under Virtual CAP Financial Literacy Resources including the OCS Assets for Independence Program (AFI) and AFI Project Locator.  A technical assistance document, Individual Development Accounts and Community Action Agencies: A Natural Partnership, was developed under federal OCS funding for CAA’s operating IDA Programs. 

Additional information can also be accessed through:

Annie E. Casey Foundation Publications

• IDAs and Other Savings Tools
• Building Family Assets Guide

Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED)

• Assets and Opportunity Scorecard – Grades for Individual States
• Advocacy Center – How to use the Scorecard to advance asset-building programs and policies in your state and How to Write Your Own State Report
• IDA Service Providers and Intermediaries
• Resource Library
  • IDA Program Design
  • Financial Education
  • Funding
  • Learning Conferences
• Native IDA Initiative – Native IDA Initiative Overview

Institute for Assets and Social Policy (IASP)

• Policies and Programs including the role of minimum wage laws in creating an asset foundation
• Pathways to Getting Ahead targeted to young adults, and aims to spur thinking about the importance of asset building in their personal lives and about how larger policy decisions impact the choices they make.
• Publications including:
  • Innovative State Policies to Reduce Poverty and Expand the Middle Class: Building Asset Security Among Low-Income Households
  • Asset Development Ladder
  • Asset Index with individual state-level data
• Related Sites and Resources

Outcomes

Asset development is a key element of ROMA National Goal 1: Low-Income People Become More Self-Sufficient.