Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

INCOME AND WEALTH

Oct 18, 2002

**Helping Low-Income Families Save
Low-income people often lack the opportunity that upper-income people have to save money and accumulate assets, making it difficult to escape poverty. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are special savings accounts that give low-income working families encouragement by matching their savings so they can accumulate assets to buy a first home, pay for college, or start a small business. Advocates would like to see Congress pass federal legislation supporting IDAs.
http://www.results.org/website/article.asp?id=511

**Fighting Poverty with Asset-Building
For the most part, public policies designed to fight poverty focus solely on income, but a growing body of evidence suggests that public policies should balance the importance of both income and assets to meaningfully address issues associated with poverty and self-sufficiency. The Corporation for Enterprise Development has released up-to-date data on asset distribution and policy for all 50 states.
http://sadrc.cfed.org/