Bringing together evidence from a diverse network of researchers and practitioners in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the March special issue of Global Social Welfare highlights the Center for Social Development’s focus on improving economic well-being for marginalized populations on the continent. The issue, “Financial Capability and Assets for Socioeconomic Development,” was developed through the Financial Capability […]
Zeng, Y. (2022). Asset building among U.S. lawful permanent residents: The role of initial legal status. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2022.2128497
The state enrolls 3.4 million children in CalKIDs, which CSD experts helped to shape. Today Governor Gavin Newsom publicly launched CalKIDS, the California Kids Investment and Development Savings program. With 3.4 million children in the first cohort of enrollees and more than $1.8 billion in assets, CalKIDS leaves the starting gate as the nation’s largest […]
New estimates on the number of children around the globe who are building assets in CDAs. Over 15 million children have built assets in Child Development Accounts (CDAs), according to new estimates in a brief by Li Zou and Michael Sherraden with the Center for Social Development in the Brown School at Washington University. Zou […]
New research from the Center for Social Development shows that a children’s account policy reduces obstacles to higher education. As the cost of higher education continues to grow, families in the United States struggle to save enough for children’s education. State 529 college savings plans are investment vehicles that assist families in meeting this need, […]
Policies to strengthen vulnerable families typically focus either on boosting income for present needs or assets for future priorities. A recent event spotlighted policies to integrate the two approaches for vulnerable families – as we already do for other families.
How can vulnerable families overcome barriers to financial security, and what has made it difficult for them to do so? New research in a special issue of Families in Society seeks answers to those questions. Guest edited by Jin Huang, Margaret Sherraden, Jenny L. Jones, and Christine Callahan, the collection developed from papers presented during […]
How does a nation train over a million social workers to help build the financial capability and assets of their clients? What should social workers in China know about finance, and what is the best way to teach them? Weighing these matters, researchers and several of China’s top social workers proposed changes at the First […]
The International Consortium for Social Development has given Michael Sherraden the 2021 James Billups International Social Development Leadership Award. In presenting the award, Consortium President Manohar Pawar recognized Sherraden’s “distinguished contribution to social development theory and practice knowledge based on impactful action in strengthening the financial capacity and asset base for poor people and communities […]
On August 26, 2021, the China Journal of Social Work announced the 2020 Best Article Award, honoring a study by an international team of scholars that includes Center for Social Development (CSD) affiliates Michael Sherraden, Li Zou, Suo Deng, Jin Huang, Margaret Sherraden, and Nancy Morrow-Howell, as well as Shanti Khinduka, former dean of the […]
A group of experts and researchers is making the case for a nationwide Child Development Account (CDA) policy. The group, which includes CSD Founding Director Michael Sherraden and Policy Director Margaret Clancy, recently released the outline in a pair of CDA policy briefs. The briefs are entitled “The Case for a Nationwide Child Development Account […]
Mobile phones have become commonplace in sub-Saharan Africa. There, as in other parts of the world, financial technology has proliferated with the expansion of digital access, opening new doors to financial products and services. But this emerging landscape requires financial acumen, and sound guidance can be hard to find.
On July 15, a multinational group of partners gathered virtually to mark the launch of Financial Capability and Asset Building in Africa (FCAB Africa), a new collaboration aimed at meeting these needs.
New research from the Center for Social Development (CSD) shows that parents of newborns with Child Development Accounts (CDAs) respond by deepening their commitment to the child’s higher education and their own efforts to save for that education. The findings come from two newly released publications: a research summary of account and savings data from […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic worsens America’s already deep income and wealth divides, how can financial capability be increased for vulnerable families? What role can social workers play? To take up these questions, more than 100 scholars and practitioners gathered virtually on February 25 for “Theory, Evidence, Education, and Practice in FCAB,” Part 2 of the convening “Financial […]
Trina R. Shanks, a Center for Social Development faculty director and a Brown School alumnus, was installed September 30 as the Howard R. Johnson Collegiate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan School of Social Work.
Masa, R., Chowa, G., & Sherraden, M. (2020). An evaluation of a school-based savings program and its effect on sexual risk behaviors and victimization among young Ghanaians. Youth & Society, 52(7), 1083–1106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X18824730
In 2018, China celebrated its 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of social work in the country. Both that year and in 2019, Center for Social Development (CSD) Director Michael Sherraden provided keynote addresses for conferences at Peking University (PKU) in Beijing. Emphasizing the importance of longstanding partnerships between Washington University and China, Sherraden said they […]
Robert E. Friedman believes we can close the racial wealth divide in a generation. “I believe in the promise of this country … and in this community. St. Louis has become a symbol to the country of the results of racial inequity, and I think it’s leading the way to close the racial wealth divide, and to let America live up to its ideals.”
Sherraden, M., Lough, B. J., Sherraden, M. S., Williams Shanks, T. R., & Huang, J. (2019). Applied social research: Aiming for impact. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 10(4), 545–570. https://doi.org/10.1086/706153
Sherraden, M. S., & Huang, J. (2019). Financial social work. In C. Franklin et al. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Work. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.923
Nam, Y., Sherraden, M. S., Huang, J., Lee, E. J., & Keovisai, M. (2019). Financial capability and economic security among low-income older Asian immigrants: Lessons from qualitative interviews. Social Work, 64(3), 224–232. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swz015
Rodríguez, C., & Saavedra, J. E. (2019). The persistent effects of youth savings reminders: Experimental evidence from text-message campaigns in Colombia. Journal of Development Economics, 139, 135–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.03.001
Birkenmaier, J., Despard, M., Friedline, T., & Huang, J. (2019, February). Financial inclusion and financial access. In C. Franklin et al. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Work. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.1331
Caplan, M., Sherraden, M. S., & Bae, J. (2018). Financial capability as social investment. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 45(4), 147–167. doi:10.7936/gmfw-0e43
Sherraden, M. (2018). Asset building as social investment. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 45(4), 35–54. doi:10.7936/d50p-as46
With bipartisan support, Pennsylvania is launching a statewide policy to provide college savings accounts for all newborns with a $100 scholarship grant. The universal, automatic-enrollment Child Development Account policy will affect many families: Pennsylvania averages 140,000 births a year.
To celebrate Financial Capability Month, the Center for Social Development and the Center for Household Financial Stability at the St. Louis Federal Reserve convened a forum, “Coin a Better Future: Reaching Out to Financially Vulnerable Families.”
Fang, S., Huang, J., Curley, J., & Birkenmaier, J. (2018). Family assets, parental expectations, and children educational performance: An empirical examination from China. Children and Youth Services Review, 87, 60–68. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.02.018
As economists float the proposal to give every newborn in the United States a “baby bond” account with between $500 to $50,000 in cash, Michael Sherraden, director of the Center for Social Development, says a solution already exists — Child Development Accounts.
More than 60 people from 10 states and the District of Columbia participated in the “Child Development Account Forum” on August 16 at the Brown School.
Social entrepreneur Peter Nares, the founder of Prosper Canada and longtime friend of the Center for Social Development, died on April 5. He was 66.
The Great Recession exposed the financial fragility of millions of American families. Now researchers and policymakers are striving to improve the next generation’s grasp of personal finance and its access to safe financial products.
Center for Social Development. (2015). Inquiry, innovation, and impact: Report to the Community, 2015 (CSD Report No. 15-86). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.
More than two decades after Michael Sherraden, PhD, wrote Assets and the Poor – introducing asset building as a new social policy framework – that idea has taken off in numerous directions.
As the 2014 tax season opens, the Refund to Savings initiative continues with adjustments designed to better understand consumer savings behavior and help more Americans build savings.
Financial issues impacting families are receiving renewed attention and interest by scholars, practitioners and students. Unfortunately, social workers and other human service workers often lack preparation, knowledge and skills to tackle increasingly complex financial problems facing their clients.
Grinstein-Weiss is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the field of asset building whose research focuses on developing programs and policies to promote economic and social development of vulnerable groups.
Evidence supporting the link between savings and college success is growing. Three studies out of the Center for Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis offer a connection between assets and college enrollment and completion.
William Elliott, III, Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh and a Faculty Associate at the Center for Social Development at Washington University’s Brown School, will present his research on children’s savings and educational outcomes at 1:00 pm, April 8, 2011, in Brown Lounge.
What does it take for a family in the US to not merely get by, but to have long-term economic security and ongoing opportunities? This was the question that inspired the creation of the Basic Economic Security Tables Index and accompanying Report.
Earnings in 529s grow free from federal income tax when used to pay for qualified educational costs. Many states, like Oregon, offer a tax deduction for families saving in the state 529 plan. Yet tax incentives provide more benefit to people with higher incomes.
David Githinji, an MSW student at the Brown School and a Research Assistant at the School’s Center for Social Development, has been awarded a $5,000 Social Change Grant by the Richard A. Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University in St. Louis.
Striving to Save: Creating Policies for Financial Security of Low-Income Families was published in February, 2010 to acclaim from economist Stuart Rutherford, Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Treasury Michael Barr, and Director of Brandeis’s Institute on Assets Thomas Shapiro.
The Center for Social Development congratulates Michal Grinstein-Weiss on her receipt of the Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research.
In an article on the front page of the May 28, 2010 San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco city officials point to a CSD study on savings and college enrollment as they prepare to launch a city-funded college savings account program this fall.
TIME Magazine has named Michael Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, to the 2010 TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
States use a variety of 529 policy strategies to make it easier for low-and moderate-income families to save for college.
Comprehensive bibliographies on asset building and civic engagement and service now available on CSD’s web site offer convenient, web-based access to over 3,000 citations, many with abstracts and links to full text.
Through the College Savings Initative, CSD and the New America Foundation will examine innovative ways to create more inclusive 529 college savings plans.
Subtitled “The movement to give every American a trust fund at birth,” the article summarizes the case for a universal children’s savings account.