Policy

Having a college degree, a home, and savings for retirement and other long-term goals are the building blocks of financial security for all Americans. But too many residents of Washington, DC have not attained these measures of wealth, and the problem is attenuated by income, race, and gender, according to CFED’s 2009-2010 Assets & Opportunities Scorecard. The economic security and mobility of a growing number of District residents is suffering in the absence of policies that help them to build and protect assets.

For this reason, CAAB and its partners are joining CFED in a policy initiative aimed at expanding wealth-building opportunities for those at the lower end of the income scale. The DC Assets & Opportunity campaign has identified the following policy priorities and strategies for 2010 and beyond:

2010 Policy Priorities & Strategies

1. Increase volume & clarity of messaging about asset building as a long-term solution to poverty through targeted media outreach
2. Advocate for integration of financial education into more public benefits programs
3. Engage in workforce development systems reform as a path to asset building
4. Protect DC Earned Income Tax Credit from reduction

Long-term Policy Priorities

1. Expand affordable homeownership opportunities.
2. Increase local funding for job training programs targeted at high growth industries with career-ladder opportunities.
3. Integrate financial education and savings incentives with cash-assistance benefit programs (TANF, Food Stamps, housing vouchers, etc.) Fund Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) for TANF-eligible individuals to support their efforts to further their education and job training and become home owners and business owners.
4. Increase college completion rate by under-represented populations, through mechanisms such as incentives for college savings for low-income residents.
5. Integrate financial education in K-12 curriculum.
6. Increase filing for the DC and federal EITC and other similar tax credits by eligible taxpayers at low- or no- cost.
7. Increase use of bank and credit union accounts for financial transactions, as opposed to high-fee alternative financial services.

Issue Briefs

• College Savings Plans: A Key Tool for College Financing (June 2011)
• The IRS and Financial Education and Asset Building
  (June 2011)

For more information about CAAB’s Assets & Opportunities campaign to bring more attention to asset building as a long-term solution to poverty in the District, email msavad@caab.org.

 

Recent CAAB Testimony

CAAB regularly testifies before the DC City Council when issues impacting its clients come to the forefront. See below for recent testimony submitted by CAAB.

April 21, 2011

Committee on Finance and Revenue Budget Hearing

Department of Employment Services Budget Hearing

April 20, 2011

Office of the State Superintendent of Education Budget Hearing

March 7, 2011

Office of Tax and Revenue Oversight Hearing

February 18, 2011

Department of Human Services Oversight Hearing

November 8, 2010

Public Hearing on Bill 18-1007, “TANF Educational Opportunities and Accountability Act of 2010”

June 23, 2010

Committee on Housing and Workforce Development Hearing: Public Oversight Roundtable on WIC & One-Stops