The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the CFPB) looked at the information sources consumers are exposed to when they make financial decisions. Empowering consumers to make the financial decisions that will help them meet their own life goals is a critical part of the mission of the CFPB. To...

The disability income system is an agglomeration of disparate programs that were designed for distinct purposes. That reality would not actually be a bad thing if at least all the pieces worked well together. A new Basic Income for persons with disabilities would enable the reform of both the...

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...

The federal government’s decision this year to cancel family income splitting and lower the annual contribution limit for tax-free savings accounts was driven largely by concerns about income inequality. Research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Parliamentary Budget Officer and...

This report analyzes federal spending on elementary and secondary education for students living on First Nations reserves. It examines the evolution of spending over the past decade and analyzes how funds were allocated and how these allocations compared to the provinces. It also provides forward...

This report describes the rationale and design of a project that will carefully implement and evaluate an innovative program — called Learn$ave — that aims to help low-income Canadians build savings for use in enhancing their labour market skills through adult education and micro-enterprise...

Between 1994 and 2008, social-assistance usage rates across Canada fell at a remarkable rate, with the fraction of the non-elderly population drawing social assistance dropping by half over the 14-year period. Because social assistance can be considered the final layer of the public social safety...

When the government establishes a social program whose primary purpose is to help provide support to low-income people with disabilities, its success should be measured on how well it achieves that purpose. Unfortunately, there are reasons to seriously question the usefulness of Canada’s...

This is a submission paper by SEDI to the Ontario Ministry of Child and Youth Services. Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI) is a national charity dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovation. We are pleased to...

To qualify for TANF and SNAP, families in many states must prove, among other criteria, that their income and assets do not exceed state or federal levels. These asset limits are caps on the amount of cash, savings, or material property that a family can hold when applying. In the case of TANF,...

Asset Building for low–income people through matched savings challenges the focus of traditional poverty-alleviation strategies on income support to enable the poor to escape from poverty and improve their economic and social status. It does not deny the necessity nor the benefits of such support...

Poverty is costing us too much. The National Council of Welfare provided examples in its 2002 report on the Cost of Poverty. In 2006, in Solving Poverty: Four Cornerstones of a Workable National Strategy for Canada, we outlined a governance model based on long-term vision, plans and budgets,...

In this paper we seek to determine the effect of assets held in early adult life on later outcomes. We specifically look at wages, employment prospects, general health and malaise. We employ a number of statistical techniques in our search for the causal effect of assets on adult health and...

This report draws upon research, evidence and the voices of people in poverty in its recommendations in order to maximize the child and family poverty reduction potential of the government’s commitments to date. Eradicating child poverty requires persistent targeted investments, sound research...

For generations, federal policies have helped Americans build assets. Millions of individuals and households have taken advantage of these policies to plan for the future, buy homes, prepare for retirement, send their children to college, and weather unexpected financial storms. Today – through a...

This short statement proposes an agenda for reconstructing much of our social policy over the next decade. Some of these initiatives build on ongoing reforms − most notably those regarding children and parents. The proposals for adults are more radical and far-reaching, calling for deconstruction...

Prosper Canada, Peel Children and Youth Initiative, and Bridgeable are working together to design solutions that help low-income families access and take advantage of RESP support programs, specifically the Canada Learning Bond. This report presents a summary of the project in each of its phases:...