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A recent grant to the New America Foundation (NAF) will be used to promote public policies that foster ownership of assets, particularly among low- and moderate-income Americans. In the United States, the asset poverty rate, which is based on the level of net worth needed to meet the poverty threshold for three months, is 25.5 percent, twice that of the income poverty rate of 12.7 percent.

With increasing policy emphasis being placed on asset accumulation as a means of getting ahead in today's economy, NAF's work will help to ensure that low- and moderate-income families are not left behind.

The $300,000 Mott grant will support NAF’s efforts to level the playing field for low- and moderate-income families by:

• producing research and analyses on promising asset building strategies;
• building awareness among policymakers, the media and the general public about the importance of asset-building opportunities and incentives for all Americans; and
• developing and promoting policies that help achieve such goals.

Among other strategies, NAF will add to the growing knowledge base about Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). IDAs are dedicated savings accounts that can be used for purchasing a first home, education or job training expenses, or starting a small business. Contributions to IDAs by participants are matched with both public and private sources.

The Mott Foundation has invested in the demonstration and evaluation of IDAs since 1996.

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Additional Resources

• Click here to read about Individual Development Accounts in a past issue of a Foundation newsletter.
• Click here to read an article on the success of IDA's in Michigan in the March 2002 issue of Mott Mosaic, our quarterly magazine.