In China, CSD’s new research with Child Development Accounts aims to build families’ capacity for managing autism and its costs.
New pilot tests CDAs, supports for families of children with autism

In China, CSD’s new research with Child Development Accounts aims to build families’ capacity for managing autism and its costs.
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.
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 […]
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 […]
Asset-building policies have taken root and are growing in countries across the globe, thanks in large part to strong international partnerships and applied social research. One robust example includes Korea, which marked a decade of asset building on November 12, 2020.
Leiker, C., Clancy, M. M., & Sherraden, M. (2020, October). Insights from state treasurers: Developing and implementing statewide Child Development Account policies (CSD Policy Summary No. 20-19). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/14tc-2b43
What would it take to ensure that every child in every state has an account accumulating assets for education beyond high school? How would those assets shape the children and their families? State officials, researchers, nonprofit leaders, program managers, and funders gathered July 16 to take up those questions.
Thirteen years after they began, researchers in a landmark study of asset building in Oklahoma are poised to receive new information gathered despite obstacles posed by COVID-19.
The report summarizes findings and recommendations from CDA research to inform policymakers and practitioners operating or considering CDAs in the midst of the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.
The Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition Inc. (ONAC) has released its Native Children’s Savings Initiative in the United States report.
Nearly 30 years after the publication of Michael Sherraden’s seminal Assets and the Poor, Child Development Account (CDA) policies and programs are emerging across the globe. Now, a new book edited by Jin Huang, Li Zou and Sherraden showcases the global context of those advancements.
A study from the Center for Social Development’s SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) experiment has been nominated for an award given to the best paper published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs.
CSD research and expertise shape proposal for a universal policy in the Show-Me state.
An expanding partnership is pursuing legislation for Missouri children in 2020.
Amendments enacted on Wednesday, October 2, will affect all newborn children in California. The state became the third this year to adopt a universal, at-birth Child Development Account (CDA) policy.
Illinois became the most recent state in the U.S. to adopt universal Child Development Accounts on August 23, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation to open a 529 college savings plan account with deposits for every child born or adopted in Illinois after Dec. 31, 2020.
Nebraska’s legislature today approved a universal Child Development Account (CDA) policy that will cover every resident born in the state on or after January 1, 2020.
Experts from the Center for Social Development traveled to Asia in mid-April to advise Taiwanese leaders about social policy and social work education.
Child Development Accounts take center stage in a newly released special issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development. The sweeping, seven-article issue shows the global context of the emerging asset-building policy. “Many countries are exploring new policy innovations that encourage asset building,” said Michael Sherraden, who co-edited the issue and co-authored […]
The Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy hosted its fifth annual Social Work Day on the Hill on March 20 in Washington, D.C.
Michael Sherraden will discuss potential federal policy for inclusive and progressive Child Development Accounts (CDAs), so that all U.S. children can accumulate assets, on March 20 at the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C. Several states have already enacted statewide CDA policies, and a nationwide policy is possible. Sherraden is the George Warren Brown Distinguished […]
Center for Social Development Policy Director Margaret Clancy testified Tuesday before the Nebraska Legislature’s Education Committee. The subject: Child Development Account policy and research results.
The Azerbaijan Minister of Labor and Social Protection Sahil Babayev and Social Policy and Services Department Head Himalay Mamishov met with Center for Social Development Director Michael Sherraden, International Director Li Zou and Research Associate Aytakin Huseynli.
The Social and Economic Development grant from the Administration for Native Americans will fund asset-building services and programs in one of the most densely populated areas of Indian Country.
About 50 researchers, practitioners, policymakers and funders met this month in Washington, D.C., to discuss how to advance the field of Child Development Account programs by making them sustainable and scaleable to reach millions.
The Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy will hold the fourth annual Social Work Day on the Hill on March 21, in Washington, D.C.
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.
Newly elected Missouri State Treasurer Eric Schmitt kicked off the June 20 Child Development Account Forum by saying his office is “very focused” on the Missouri MOST 529 College Savings Plan.
Financial Capability and Asset Building for All is one of the 12 Grand Challenges for Social Work and a growing practice in the social work profession. The Center for Social Development is committed to working with its partners to increase the financial capability of individuals, families, and communities across the globe!
Social Security provides an important base of income, and without it about 50 percent of America’s elderly would live in poverty, said David Certner, legislative counsel and legislative policy director for government affairs at AARP.
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.
Building on a longtime working history, leadership from the Center for Social Development formally advised the Israeli government in May on best practices for implementing the country’s new law to confer universal savings accounts on children born in Israel. The law takes effect in January 2017.
New research from the Center for Social Development at Washington University showed that low- to moderate-income black students and graduates accrued $7,721 more education debt than their white counterparts.
The Singapore government announced on March 24 that it significantly expanded Child Development Accounts as of that date.
Every student in public, private and home schools in Salem City, N.J., will have access to a seed deposit in a 529 college savings account starting in April, officials announced.
Every kindergartner enrolled this year in St. Louis City public and charter schools is receiving a college savings account, Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones said at the official launch of the College Kids program.
Israel’s parliament has passed a law funding long-term savings accounts for all newborns, based on a proposal developed by Michal Grinstein-Weiss, associate director of the Center for Social Development, and on research efforts led by Michael Sherraden, director of CSD.
More than 100 people gathered in St. Louis in October to hear leading experts discuss the latest research, funding, program and account-structure ideas in the growing field of Child Development Accounts.
The Ferguson Commission in its report released this week called for universal Child Development Accounts that are statewide and automatic.
At the Center for Social Development, we believe that financial security should be lifelong, starting at birth and extending from childhood through adulthood. Today CSD is proud to join CFED and more than a dozen other partners in launching the Campaign for Every Kid’s Future.
Singapore’s innovative response to its rough and vulnerable beginning has shaped the first 50 years of the island country, Michael Sherraden said Wednesday, speaking to a crowd gathered at the National University of Singapore for his public lecture marking Singapore’s 50th Anniversary as an independent nation.
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Ph.D., the associate director of the Center for Social Development and associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University, presented to a visiting delegation of Israeli government officials in New York City.
An experiment that models the first truly universal Child Development Account policy in the United States shows early positive impacts for parents and children, according to a research summary recently published by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.
This week, the state of Maine became the first in the United States to make college savings for newborns universal and automatic, putting into practice research pioneered by Michael Sherraden and the Brown School’s Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.
A college savings account in a child’s name not only gives parents hope for the future, it also results in improved social-emotional health for their children.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) recently launched the first large-scale test of college savings accounts when it incorporated a college savings and financial counseling component into GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness for Undergraduate Programs), its initiative to prepare youth for college.
Asset-building scholars, policymakers, and foundations gathered earlier this month in Washington, DC to celebrate the 21st anniversary of “Assets and the Poor: A New American Welfare Policy.”