This webinar explored Child Development Accounts (CDAs) as an asset-building policy innovation. CDAs invest in all children for their future development.
October 3, 2023
8:15–9:30 PM (CT, GMT-5)
Location: Virtual
The SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) policy experiment is applied CDA research with important findings and policy influence. Speakers shared insights from SEED OK research design, implementation, and results; assessed policy impacts in the United States and other countries; and concluded with a global vision for CDA policy.
Social work practitioners can use this knowledge to increase their understanding and interactions with CDAs and other asset-building policies in Singapore. Social policy makers can gain an understanding of the potential for CDAs to benefit all children and build on Singapore’s leadership in asset-based social policy.
This event was co-organized by the Social Service Research Centre in the Faculty of Arts & SociaI Sciences at the National University of Singapore, the Next Age Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Center for Social Development.
Speakers
George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor, Director, Center for Social Development, and Director, Next Age Institute, Washington University in St. Louis (USA)
Michael Sherraden, PhD, is the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, founding director of Washington University’s Center for Social Development, and founding director of Next Age Institute, a collaboration between Washington University and National University of Singapore, where he was the inaugural S.R. Nathan Professor of Social Work. In creating and testing innovations to improve well-being, Sherraden has defined and informed a growing body of applied research and policy to promote inclusion in asset building. This work has influenced numerous asset-based policies and programs in the U.S. and other countries, including Child Development Account policies. Sherraden has received the Distinguished Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research, the Career Achievement Award from the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration, and numerous other honors. TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Professor, School of Social Work, Saint Louis University (USA); Research Professor, Brown School, and Faculty Director, Center for Social Development, Washington University in St. Louis (USA)
Jin Huang, PhD, is professor of social work at Saint Louis University, part-time research professor in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, and faculty director in Washington University’s Center for Social Development. He is a noted expert on research concerning asset-based social policy, global asset building, Child Development Accounts, financial capability, child and family development, programs and services for children with disabilities, and social policy in China. Within the U.S.-based Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative, Huang serves as co-lead of the network to Build Financial Capability and Assets For All. He is a prolific author whose work has been published in JAMA Pediatrics, Social Science and Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, Maternal and Child Nutrition, Social Service Review, Social Science Research, Social Work, British Journal of Social Work, and numerous other prominent journals.
International Director, Center for Social Development, Washington University in St. Louis (USA)
Li Zou serves as Co-Director of the Next Age Institute (NAI), a collaboration between Washington University and the National University of Singapore, and International Director of the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University. Zou has spearheaded efforts of CSD and NAI to advance asset-building policies and Child Development Accounts worldwide. She has consulted for governments in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, and Azerbaijan. She has directed the 5-year $12.5 million YouthSave Project, which assisted over 150,000 youth in saving for asset building in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal. She has coedited three books: Inclusive Child Development Accounts: Toward Universality and Progressivity (Routledge, 2020, in English), Asset Building: Strategies and Policies in Asia (Peking University Press, 2014, in Chinese), and Asset-Building Policies and Innovations in Asia (Routledge, 2014, in English). Zou holds an MSW and an MBA from Washington University.
Moderator
Associate Professor,
Department of Social Work
Advisory Board &
Steering Committee Chair,
Social Service Research Centre,
National University of Singapore
Irene Y.H. Ng is an Associate Professor of Social Work and the Advisory Board and Steering Committee Chair of the Social Service Research Centre (SSR) in the National University of Singapore. She holds a joint PhD in Social Work and Economics from the University of Michigan. Her research areas include poverty and inequality, intergenerational mobility, and social welfare policy. Her current research projects include a study of in-work poverty among the young; social safety nets in East Asia; and the development of universal digital access.
Organizers
About the Social Science Research Centre
Social Service Research Centre (SSR) is a research centre in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore. The Centre brings together resources and ideas to test social innovations and help evolve a new social service infrastructure for Singapore’s next phase of social development. As the first ever entity dedicated to social intervention research in Singapore, SSR is on the forefront of an exciting new frontier in Singapore’s development.
About the Next Age Institute
The Next Age Institute (NAI) is a partnership between Washington University and the National University of Singapore (NUS) to study, design, and test social innovations. NAI will address global challenges facing many families and communities, among them aging populations, rising inequality, globalization of markets, and the shift to information age technologies. Through innovation, research, and policy development, NAI will focus on creating a comprehensive body of applied scholarship to address these profound issues.
About the Center for Social Development
A leader in applied policy research for nearly 30 years, the Center for Social Development in the Brown School at Washington University is a hub for the development, testing, and implementation of applied social innovations that broaden well-being. We incubate solutions that can be scaled to reach millions, and we create new fields of study to advance the social development of all people. We train emerging scholars and practitioners in the effective conduct of engaged social science research. We invite you to join us in the work of building a just, inclusive, and sustainable future.