American Dream Demonstration Evaluation
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Program Education
- Program Area Expanding Economic Opportunity
- Grant Amount $170,000
- Grant Period October 1, 2008–September 30, 2011
- Location Chapel Hill, NC, United States
- Geographic Focus United States
About this grant
The American Dream Demonstration, which ran from 1998 to 2002, was a large-scale, experimental study assessing the efficacy of Individual Development Accounts. Results from the demonstration helped propel bipartisan interest in increasing the savings and wealth of low-income households as a strategy to complement traditional, income-based poverty alleviation programs. This grant will enable researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to collect a fourth wave of survey data in order to assess the long-term impacts from the demonstration. The study will provide policymakers, practitioners, and researchers with the first evidence on the long-term impacts and cost effectiveness of Individual Development Account programs.