|
 |
Home | About Us | Membership | Collaborations | Programs | Resources |
|
Asset Building Policy Project The Asset Building Policy Project (ABPP) at the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM) unites individual-development and community-development policy to create opportunities and assets that will help families and communities thrive. The ABPP was created by the Asset Building Coalition (ABC) for Michigan, which is a diverse and broadly representative group of approximately 45 offices and agencies including bipartisan legislators, state agencies, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations. The coalition met over a six month period with an express purpose of creating a report that outlines new and existing state policy options with the greatest potential to help working poor households build assets toward becoming more financially secure. The ABPP’s purpose is to pursue the four policy goals and twelve recommendations outlined in the ABC’s report, Helping Working Families Achieve Financial Security, which was released in January 2006. To accomplish these goals the ABPP has continued to meet with the Asset Building Advisory Committee, a group derived from the ABC, to plan future steps. The committee has also begun to track its actions aimed to complete the project’s goals. Thus far, some of these efforts include legislative advances for individual development accounts, numerous op-eds written to advocate for asset building issues, such as universal retirement savings accounts, and meeting with key legislators and organizations to discuss asset building initiatives, like universal children’s savings accounts. The Asset Building Coalition (ABC) for Michigan has released its first report: Helping Working Families Achieve Financial Security. It is the result of six months of work by the Asset Building Coalition for Michigan, a group of 45 offices and agencies in Michigan. The report discusses innovative programs and policies already available in Michigan such as the Michigan IDA Partnership (MIDAP) and SEED project through Oakland Livingston Human Services Agency. Short term opportunities and long-term policy options that can bring about individual and economic development are identified in the report. Some of these strategies include Universal Children's Savings Accounts, expansion of financial education, and state earned income tax credits. Download the press release and the full report for more information. The project will use the 2005 CFED Assets and Opportunities Scorecard as one of its key analysis tools to highlight existing policy and create new policy options with the greatest potential to help working poor households build assets toward becoming more financially secure. To view the press release on the ABC Policy Project, press here
CEDAM © 2005 CEDAM. All Rights Reserved |