Social Work Commons^™

Women, Microfinance, And Savings: Lessons And Proposals, Rebecca Vonderlack, Mark Schreiner

Center for Social Development Research

Microfinance—both credit and savings—has potential to improve the well-being of poor women in developing countries. This paper explores practical ways to achieve that potential. Based on lessons from informal saving mechanisms that women already use, the paper proposes two savings services designed to address the development issues that confront women. The proposals call for safe-deposit boxes and for matched savings accounts for health care or education.

Strategies For Creating Mis Technology To Improve Social Work Practice And Research, Elizabeth Johnson, James Hinterlong, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

This paper illustrates the potential for management information system (MIS) technology to integrate information collection, management and reporting within a single program or network of organizations. Properly devised and created, MIS applications improve administration, service delivery and practice evaluation. Three strategies are offered to guide the design and development of MIS software. This paper is based on lessons from the production and implementation of MIS software that serves as a management and evaluation tool for a nationwide policy demonstration. Data from the MIS have helped to shape state and federal policy.

Experience In The American Dream Demonstration: Lessons For Monitoring In A Children And Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration, Margaret Clancy, Lissa Johnson, Mark Schreiner

Center for Social Development Research

Experience in the American Dream Demonstration: Lessons for Monitoring in a Children and Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration

Saving, Ida Programs, And Effects Of Idas: A Survey Of Participants, Amanda Moore, Sondra Beverly, Mark Schreiner, Michael Sherraden, Margaret Lombe, Esther Y. N. Cho, Lissa Johnson, Rebecca Vonderlack

Center for Social Development Research

Saving, IDA Programs, and Effects of IDAs: A Survey of Participants

Assets, Health, And Well Being: Neighborhoods, Families, Children And Youth, Deborah Page-Adams, Edward Scanlon, Sondra Beverly, Tom Mcdonald

Center for Social Development Research

Assets, Health, and Well Being: Neighborhoods, Families, Children and Youth

Depression And Poverty Among African-American Women At Risk For Type 2 Diabetes, Mary De Groot, Wendy Auslander, James Herbert Williams, Michael Sherraden, Debra Haire-Joshu

Center for Social Development Research

Poverty is associated with negative health outcomes, including depression. Little is known about the specific elements of poverty that contribute to depression, particularly among African- American women at risk for type 2 diabetes. This study examined the relationships of economic and social resources to depression among African-American women at high risk for the development of type 2 diabetes (N=181) using the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory as a conceptual framework. Women were assessed at three time points in conjunction with a dietary change intervention. At baseline, 40% of women reported clinically significant depression and 43.3% were below the poverty line. …

Financial Education In A Children And Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration: Issues And Options, Sondra G. Beverly, Margaret Clancy

Center for Social Development Research

Financial Education in a Children and Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration: Issues and Options

Maximizing Internal And External Validity: Recommendations For A Children And Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration, Sondra Beverly, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Maximizing Internal and External Validity: Recommendations for a Children and Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration

A Framework Of Asset-Accumulation Stages And Strategies, Sondra Beverly, Amanda Moore, Mark Schreiner

Center for Social Development Research

We propose that asset accumulation occurs in three stages. In the first stage (reallocation), current resource inflows must exceed current outflows. To meet this objective, people reallocate resources from current consumption, current leisure, or future consumption or leisure. In the second stage (conversion), people may convert resources from liquid to illiquid forms. In the third stage (maintenance), individuals resist temptations to dissave. We suggest that people adopt psychological and behavioral strategies to achieve each of these objectives. Putting the two types of strategies together with the three stages of asset accumulation results in six strategy groups. We provide examples of …

Savings Deposits, Incentive Structure, And Management Information Systems: Implications For Research On A Children And Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration, Margaret Clancy, Lissa Johnson, Mark Schreiner

Center for Social Development Research

Savings Deposits, Incentive Structure, and Management Information Systems: Implications for Research on a Children and Youth Savings Account Policy Demonstration

State Of Welfare Families On Reservations: Progress, Setbacks, And Issues For Reauthorization (Working Paper 3), Shanta Pandey, Eddie F. Brown, Min Zhan, Sarah Hicks, Patricia Welch

Buder Center for American Indian Studies Research

State of Welfare Families on Reservations: Progress, Setbacks, and Issues for Reauthorization (Working Paper 3)

Welfare, Work, And American Indians: The Impact Of Welfare Reform, Eddie Brown, Leslie Whitaker, Melinda Springwater, Stephen Cornell, Miriam Jorgensen, Michelle Hale, Amie Nagle

Buder Center for American Indian Studies Research

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) ushered in a new era of welfare programs in America. PRWORA and related legislation specifically addressed the needs of American Indian tribes. In this report we review the key features of the welfare reform legislation as it applies to American Indians and Indian Country, assess—to the best of our ability with currently available information—its impact on Indian nations and its chances of achieving its goals, and identify key issues that demand attention if welfare reform is to succeed on Indian lands. The report is divided into three major parts, …

Welfare Reform On American Indian Reservations: Initial Experience Of Service Providers And Recipients On Reservations In Arizona, Shanta Pandey, Eddie Brown, Leslie Scheuler-Whitaker

Buder Center for American Indian Studies Research

In this article we document trends in welfare caseloads and some initial experiences of service providers and welfare recipients on reservations within Arizona under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). We document the issues and concerns of state and tribal service providers as they implement the legislation on reservations that are often geographically isolated and which lack infrastructure, jobs, childcare and transportation.

We also record experiences of women with children on reservations with the 1996 federal welfare legislation. These families experience similar barriers when trying to move from welfare to work as do their counterparts across the country; however, these …

Assets As A Measure Of Household Welfare In Developing Countries, David E. Sahn, David Stifel

Center for Social Development Research

This paper was commissioned for Inclusion in Asset Building: Research and Policy Symposium, an event hosted in September 2000 by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. The paper identifies and explores the use of an asset-based metric of welfare. The metric relies on assets data that are easy to collect and analyze. The authors demonstrate that the asset index functions well in identifying and profiling the poor, in targeting transfers, and even in estimating demand or production functions for outcomes that are useful for designing programs and policy.

Homeownership And Youth Well-Being: An Empirical Test Of Asset-Based Welfare, Edward Scanlon, Deborah Page-Adams

Center for Social Development Research

Homeownership and Youth Well-Being: An Empirical Test of Asset-Based Welfare

Saving Patterns In Ida Programs, Michael Sherraden, Lissa Johnson, Margaret Clancy, Sondra Beverly, Mark Schreiner, Min Zhan, Jami Curley

Center for Social Development Research

Saving Patterns in IDA Programs

Going To Scale: Principles And Policy Options For An Inclusive Asset-Building Policy, Robert Friedman, Ray Boshara

Center for Social Development Research

Going to Scale: Principles and Policy Options for an Inclusive Asset-Building Policy

Toward Progressive Pensions: A Summary Of The U.S. Pension System And Proposals For Reform, Peter Orszag, Robert Greenstein

Center for Social Development Research

Toward Progressive Pensions: A Summary of the U.S. Pension System and Proposals for Reform

Productive Engagement Of Older Adults: Effects On Well-Being, Nancy Morrow-Howell

Center for Social Development Research

Productive Engagement of Older Adults: Effects on Well-Being

Assets And The Poor: Evidence From Individual Development Accounts, Mark Schreiner, Michael Sherraden, Margaret Clancy, Lissa Johnson, Jami Curley, Min Zhan, Sondra Beverly, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Center for Social Development Research

Assets and the Poor: Evidence From Individual Development Accounts

Family Matters: Kin Networks And Asset Accumulation, Ngina Chiteji, Darrick Hamilton

Center for Social Development Research

Family Matters: Kin Networks and Asset Accumulation

Listening To African-American Students: An Exploratory Analysis Of Factors That Foster Academic Success, Julie Miller-Cribbs, Larry Davis, Stephanie Cronen, Sharon Johnson

Center for Social Development Research

This exploratory study assessed African-American freshman and sophomore students’ decisions to remain in school and their opinions regarding specific dropout prevention programs. Results indicated that students believed that school completion would prepare them for the future. the opinion of family members was consistently ranked as most important in supporting students' decisions to remain in school, and the primary barriers to completing school were related to family issues, academic problems and personal issues. Overall, students were most interested in intervention programs having to do with preparation for their futures—jobs and goals. The importance of tailoring education to meet the needs of …

Use Of Financial Services And The Poor, Jeanne M. Hogarth, Jinkook Lee

Center for Social Development Research

This paper was commissioned for Inclusion in Asset Building: Research and Policy Symposium, an event hosted in September 2000 by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. The paper presents results from an analysis using data from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances to explore several aspects of the financial relationships of low-income households. The analyses looked at an updated profile of low-income and poor households, their financial portfolios, their attachment to the mainstream financial sector, and their use of various types of financial institutions. The findings suggest ways to move low-income households into the financial …

The Universal Piggy Bank: Designing And Implementing A System Of Savings Accounts For Children, Fred T. Goldberg Jr., Jodi Birk Cohen

Center for Social Development Research

The Universal Piggy Bank: Designing and Implementing a System of Savings Accounts for Children

Linking Tax Refunds And Low-Cost Bank Accounts, Sondra G. Beverly, Jennifer Tescher, David Marzahl

Center for Social Development Research

This paper was commissioned for Inclusion in Asset Building: Research and Policy Symposium, an event hosted in September 2000 by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. A version was subsequently developed for publication in Inclusion in the American Dream: Assets, Poverty, and Public Policy (Oxford University Press, 2005). The papert presents findings from an evaluation of the Extra Credit Savings Program (ECSP). Piloted in Chicago by ShoreBank and the Center for Law and Human Services, the program was designed to connect unbanked households to mainstream financial services and to facilitate ongoing asset accumulation in low-income …

The Impacts Of Ida Programs On Family Savings And Asset-Holdings, Michael Stegman, Robert Faris, Oswaldo Urdapilleta Gonzales

Center for Social Development Research

This paper was commissioned for Inclusion in Asset Building: Research and Policy Symposium, an event hosted in September 2000 by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. A version was subsequently developed for publication in Inclusion in the American Dream: Assets, Poverty, and Public Policy (Oxford University Press, 2005). This paper supplements research on the national Individual Development Account (IDA) pilot known as the Downpayment on the American Dream Demonstration (ADD). Its subject is the financial impact of ADD on the net savings and assets of program participants, and it examines what ADD participants would have …

Assets, Race, And Educational Choices, Tom Shapiro, Heather Beth Johnson

Center for Social Development Research

Assets, Race, and Educational Choices

Saving And Asset-Accumulation Strategies Used By Low-Income Individuals, Amanda Moore Mcbride, Sondra Beverly, Michael Sherraden, Margaret Sherraden, Lissa Johnson, Mark Schreiner

Center for Social Development Research

This paper presents quantitative and qualitative data regarding the saving and asset-accumulation strategies used by low-income participants in Individual Development Account programs(IDAs). the results of a cross-sectional survey with 298 IDA participants and case studies with 15 IDA participants—the first methods that assessed saving behavior among this population—demonstrate that low-income individuals use psychological and behavioral strategies to save, deposit, and maintain assets. the most frequentlyused strategies are behavioral saving strategiesfor increasing the efficiency of spending (e.g., shopping more carefully for food) and for reducing consumption (e.g., spending less on leisure). Qualitative results indicate that individuals also use goals and mental …

Who Are The Asset Poor? Levels, Trends, And Composition, 1983-1998, Robert Haveman, Edward N. Wolff

Center for Social Development Research

Who Are the Asset Poor? Levels, Trends, and Composition, 1983-1998

How Are Families On Reservations Faring Under Welfare Reform? Working Paper 2, Shanta Pandey, Min Zhan, Shannon Collier-Tenison, Kathryn Hui

Buder Center for American Indian Studies Research

This report is based on our first wave of interviews with 445 either former or current welfare families with children. The respondents were from three Indian reservations (Navajo, San Carlos and Salt River) within Arizona. This information was substantiated by several focus group interviews with welfare recipients and tribal social service providers. The results provide useful insights into understanding the characteristics of welfare recipients on reservations. The characteristics of the welfare caseload on reservations indicate that rapid decline in caseload at the national and regional level will not automatically result in similar caseload decline on many American Indian reservations. A …