To address challenges around savings, the asset building and financial services fields have developed an array of solutions that attempt to support savings and wealth accumulation. However, the landscape of savings solutions is complex, difficult for households to navigate, and full of solutions...
Tax time financial capability services offered at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites range from encouraging taxpayers to save a portion of their refund to free credit reviews, to referrals to financial coaching, and others in between. This report from Prosperity Now summarizes research...
This is Prosperity Now’s Taxpayer Opportunity Network VITA Volunteer Training platform, designed to help VITA volunteers (in the United States) train and become certified to provide free tax preparation services. These resources can provide a complete training or supplement the training offered...
This comprehensive resource from Prosperity Now supports organizations in developing a participant-centered financial coaching program. Grounded in a field survey, over 100 interviews, expert advice and beta-testing with six new financial coaching programs, the Coaching Guide highlights the...
This brief describes the data collected and lessons gleaned from the Financial Coaching Impact & Evaluation Fellowship, which took place over the course of 10 months in 2017. Ultimately, this brief argues that the Financial Well-Being Scale and the Financial Capability Scale are promising...
This report examines the growing racial wealth divide for Black and Latino and the ways that accelerating concentrations of wealth at the top compound and exacerbate this divide. It looks at trends in wealth...
This is a webinar on the connection between health and wealth. Discusses social determinants of health, effects of financial stress, racial background, child poverty, and program examples of support...
Most community-based organizations are accustomed to managing scarce resources, which may discourage them from delivering additional services. However, partnering with other organizations to provide services allows service providers to tap into existing resources and infrastructure instead of...
This brief is the fourth of a five-part series that highlights the need and opportunity for integrating financial capability services into social service programs. The goal of this integration is to improve overall financial outcomes that lead to financial security for low- and moderate-income...
This is the slide deck from a webinar by Community Action Partnership for the CFED, on the racial wealth divide and the challenge of wealth building for families of color in the United States. Racial Inequality has always had economic inequality at its foundation....
Many service providers work with clients who are financially unstable. Financial instability can vary depending on the person, but common characteristics include having limited or unpredictable income, being behind on rent, not having enough money for food and other basics, and having...
Many service providers work with clients who are financially unstable. Financial instability can vary depending on the person, but common characteristics include having limited or unpredictable income, being behind on rent, not having enough money for food and other basics, and having...
Immigrants face many of the same challenges that low- and moderate-income communities experience (e.g., low and unstable incomes, poor credit or lack of a credit history, and limited ability to access loans). But they also face a set of unique challenges. For example, immigrants may be hesitant to...
Surveys are a great way to answer some of the questions you have about the people you serve and their thoughts and feelings about the services you provide. Surveys can help you decide which new services will have the greatest impact on your clients and help you evaluate the impact of your existing...
Deciding which financial capability services to provide clients begins with understanding how clients currently manage their financial lives. Tool 1 in Building Financial Capability: A Planning Guide for Integrated Services (http://1.usa.gov/1FxrLnE) helps you analyze clients’ current financial...
This is a webinar presenting the results of the Building Savings For Success evaluation report of matched savings account programs in 2 United States cities. One city used a coaching model, the other a case management model. The program showed that participants increased their liquid assets and...
This is a Presentation showing several different frameworks for assets and financial capability, collected by the CFED. This includes the Household Financial Security framework, the Financial Capability Lifecycle, Road to Economic Security, and...
This report focuses on the role that policy design can have on closing the country’s unrelenting and unacceptable racial wealth divide. We utilize a new framework—The Racial Wealth Audit—launched jointly by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University (IASP) and Demos to...
From January 2014 through June 2015, ten community-based organizations from around the United States embarked on an 18-month journey to develop new ways for their low-income clients to progress toward financial security. This document highlights the lessons and successes from that Learning Cluster...
Empirical evidence gathered over the last several years documents the potential of Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs) to expand educational and economic opportunity for low- and moderate-income families. While much of the research on CSAs is based on regression analyses of panel data, randomized...
Opening a bank account is the first step towards financial inclusion and building long-term wealth. Yet nearly 9 million U.S. households are unbanked, meaning no person in the household holds a bank account. In addition, 25 million households are underbanked, meaning that they have a checking or...
The following profile presents data on the economic inequalities within Miami. These statistics may seem overwhelming. However, we with more information about the challenges of racial economic inequality, there is greater opportunity to identify best practices and policies that can address the...
The following profile presents data on the economic inequalities within New Orleans. These statistics may seem overwhelming. However, we know with more information about the challenges of racial economic inequality, there is greater opportunity to identify best practices and policies that can...
The Children’s Savings Account (CSA) movement has taken off in the past few years. These programs provide long-term savings or investment accounts and savings incentives to help children build savings for their future. In 2016, CSA initiatives started in a diverse range of locations, such as...
Inclusive retirement savings policies build the means for a safe post‐work future and the chance to pass a little more stability on to the next generation, a goal often believed to be far out of reach for low‐ and moderate‐income families. While wages and the ability to cover day‐to‐day...