Individual Development Account (IDA) participants need strong credit histories to access affordable credit for their IDA asset purchase. Using a convenience sample of IDA participants (N = 188) recruited from the St. Louis, MO area, this study presents credit profile data addressing utilization...

Leigh Tivol, senior program manager with the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) in Washington, D.C., presented the national perspective on the asset-building movement at the RAISE Texas Action Summit in April.>

What began several years ago as a network of matched savings programs to encourage low-income Texans to save has blossomed into a statewide, comprehensive asset-building movement now known as RAISE Texas.

Louisiana legislators recently approved $2 million in funding for a statewide individual development account program aimed at getting low-income hurricane victims back on their feet.

Low-income residents in New Mexico now have more incentive than ever to save for a home, an education or their own business. In the 2006 legislative session, the state provided $1.5 million to fund the Individual Development Account Act that passed in 2003.

Looking to buy homes in Boston and learn about financial management, almost 200 people have joined "The Network," an intensive IDA program that is entering its second session. Kathleen Gill profiles the IDA.

The American Dream Demonstration, the largest collection of individual development account programs ever undertaken in the United States, has encouraging evidence that the poor can save. Could this be the future of asset development?

What are asset-development policies? What programs are underway to explore such policies? Larry Beeferman of the Asset Development Institute describes the movement and his views on why asset-development policies are vital to economic equality.