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What is asset building and why does it matter?
Traditional approaches to fighting poverty have focused on meeting the immediate needs of low-income populations, offering essentials like food, clothing and shelter. While these approaches provide vital services for people in crisis, they do not offer a path that leads permanently out of poverty. Asset building refers to public policies, strategies, and programs that enable people with limited financial resources to accumulate long-term and productive assets.
 While income helps people get by assets help them get ahead. Families build assets through education, savings, individual development accounts, investments, retirement accounts, vehicle ownership, home & land ownership, and small business ownership. Efforts that support families building assets include, but are not limited to: financial education, Earned Income Tax Credits, workplace development, post-secondary education, healthcare, asset limits in social assistance programs, and community assets.
According to the 2007-2008 Corporation for Economic Development Assets and opportunities Scorecard:
• 10.7% of Delawareans lack enough cash to survive for three months
• Delaware ranks 44th among the States for median credit card debt and 46th for median installment debt. Too much debt makes families especially vulnerable during times of economic hardship, drains wealth and negatively affects their ability to build assets.
The 2006 American Community Survey reveals:
• 11.1% of individuals in the state live below poverty
• 15.8% of all people in the state under the age of 18 live below poverty
According to Delaware’s Vision2015 project, on average, every additional student who graduates from high school and from college:
• Generates an additional $1.4 million in lifetime earnings
• Contributes $120,000 more in state and local taxes than a high school dropout.
• In addition, the student saves society $71,000 in Medicaid costs and $34,000 in prison costs. |
Research-Based Initiatives
The Delaware Asset Building Coalition is committed to using sound research to direct its efforts and resources for advocating asset building. To date, there have been a number of initiatives throughout the state, such as Delawareans Save! Individual Development Accounts, the Earned Income Tax Credit Campaign, and First State Saves.
Evidence suggests that assets are associated with:
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Decreased residential mobility |
Increased health and satisfaction among adults |
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Increased local civic involvement |
Decreased risk of intergenerational poverty transmission |
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Household economic stability |
Increased property maintenance |
How are Delawareans benefiting from current asset-building related practices?
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Another 600+ individuals have committed to saving money for debt reduction, emergency savings, homeownership, or some other goal through First State Saves an America Saves.
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The YWCA Delaware Department of Economic Advancement, the Delaware Money School, the Delaware Community Reinvestment Act Coalition and Nehemiah Gateway offer low and moderate income residents financial education throughout the state.
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