Financial Inclusion

CSD’s work at the intersection of disability and asset building continues to inform policy as well as practice.

The SEED OK experiment, which began in 2007, is a large-scale policy test of universal, automatic, and progressive Child Development Accounts. The CDA uses the Oklahoma 529 College Savings Plan platform.

The first statewide Child Development Account (CDA) in the U.S., Maine’s Harold Alfond College Challenge, stands as a shining example of universal and progressive accounts at birth. We study the College Challenge and document this CDA’s evolution.

CSD seeks to inform and put in place an inclusive 529 platform for educational savings to increase postsecondary degree success among lower-income children, youth, and non-traditional students.

Our research examines the effectiveness of asset-building policies in Native communities and seeks to inform policy design to make inclusive asset-building policies. 

This is the first large-scale demonstration of Individual Development Accounts, with approximately 2,400 accounts opened at 13 sites across the country. 

With the Buder Center for American Indian Studies, we investigate the potential of using the Earned Income Tax Credit toward poverty alleviation in Indian Country. 

Our research addresses saving for post-secondary education in American Indian communities in North Carolina. 

We expand the national methodology for basic income adequacy and economic security measure by including saving components. 

We assisted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families in designing the next evaluation of the AFIA program. 

Our project with the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies examines the uptake and potential uses of Earned Income Tax Credit dollars by Native people. 

We test asset-building accounts for children and youth to create an inclusive system of Child Development Accounts in 12 communities across the U.S. SEED included more than 1,200 low-income children and their families.

We investigate the asset holdings of one Native community by asking members to define “assets” for themselves and for their community. 

Our research informs development of asset-building policies at the state level and is designed to include traditionally marginalized groups. 

We built an inclusive statewide and regional asset-building coalition in the South with Historically Black Colleges and Universities as partners.

We created a tool for the American Dream Policy Demonstration to track demographics and savings of low-income individuals participating in a matched savings program. 

Our project with the Urban Institute evaluates studies of asset building among low-income households for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

We examine the patterns and determinants of asset accumulation across the life course, using 35 years of data.

We test the role of state welfare asset limits on low-income households’ ability to build assets. 

We research asset development in rural America with a focus on underserved populations

In 1998, the Minnesota Legislature passed into law the Family Assets for Independence in Minnesota (FAIM) Pilot Project for IDAs. FAIM was the first statewide IDA program to be studied in this level of detail.

Our project with the United Way of Greater St. Louis implemented an IDA Pilot Program to explore a way to build assets in low-income households and communities. 

We held a research and policy symposium on knowledge foundations and policy strategies to enable low-wealth individuals to build assets.

We examine economic well-being outcomes among low-income individuals who took part in one of seven microenterprise assistance programs in the U.S. 

Our project assisted the Taipei City government with policy and research design for its Taipei Family Development Account pilot program.

We work with the Israeli government to develop an asset-building policy of national Child Development Accounts. 

We assist China with creating its first asset-building program and conduct ongoing research with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The policy set up an account for every Singaporean ages 7 to 20. It is one of three asset-building programs that create a cradle-to-grave asset-building system for all.  

This initiative in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya and Nepal was to understand conditions for delivery of savings products and services to improve the lives of low-income youth.

Our collaboration with the New America Foundation’s Asset Building Program seeks to inform and promote development of asset-building policies and programs worldwide. 

This collaborative research project with the Seoul Welfare Foundation focuses on a matched savings program modeled on Individual Development Accounts.

Our project enables families to save and make investments in the Nairobi Stock Exchange in Kenya. 

We focused on credit scoring for microfinance and poverty scoring to improve access for the poor to formal financial services. 

We provide policy and research design support to the government of South Korea as it develops and implements programs that focus on social investment. 

We provide policy and research design support to nongovernmental organizations in Peru and Colombia as they develop three asset-based poverty alleviation initiatives. 

With the Indonesian Ministry of Social Welfare and State Islamic University, we designed an asset-based pilot to be implemented in poor areas of Indonesia.

We provided policy and research design support to the government of Hong Kong as it developed a proposal for a national Child Development Fund. 

Our pilot program tests asset-building innovations for impoverished households and communities in Uganda. 

We worked with local researchers to implement and test an asset-building intervention with orphaned children at seven primary schools in the Rakai district. 

We held a research and policy symposium on knowledge foundations and policy strategies to enable low-wealth individuals to build assets.

Our pilot programs focused on the rural poor with the goal of encouraging low-income families to save for assets for a better life.

The Financial Capability & Asset Building in Africa (FCAB Africa) initiative aims to increase financial capability and asset holding among socially and financially marginalized populations in Africa. By improving financial stability and security in these populations, the initiative seeks to strengthen their social and economic well-being.

We address the gap in professional FCAB training of social workers and other human service practitioners who serve low- and moderate-income households.

We are building a body of evidence in financial capability, defined as both the knowledge to make optimal financial decisions and access to appropriate and beneficial financial services. 

We seek to increase the financial capability of Head Start families in the St. Louis metropolitan area through financial education. 

We research how financial education and saving affect student’s financial literacy, academic engagement and plans for college. 

We assess REAP and explore the role of financial and economic factors in domestic violence for low-income battered women in the St. Louis region.