Transcript The Economic Security Initiative

Building Assets, Promoting Choice and
Community Participation
Lucy Gorham
Senior Program Director
MDC, Inc. Chapel Hill, NC
NCTC Conference Chicago June 2011
MDC helps organizations and communities close the
gaps that separate people from opportunity.
Our organizing principle: Education + Work + Assets = Pathway
to Opportunity
P.O. Box 17268 . Chapel Hill, NC 27516-7268 . 919.968.4531
www.mdcinc.org
MDC’s Assets Work:
Helping the South Progress

EITC Carolinas -- (Earned Income Tax Credit) –
Connects individuals and families to tax credits and
opportunities to build assets

The Benefit Bank of North Carolina - TBB-NC Expands the work of EITC Carolinas by connecting
workers and families to an expanded array of
supports; and

The North Carolina Assets Alliance: addresses the
need for policy and program change to help workers
and families build assets
M
Including Disability in Our Work
Four years ago, the NC Council on
Developmental Disabilities funded the
NC Assets Alliance to do a three year
project to expand opportunities for
people with disabilities to build
assets.
Project Created New Partnerships

NC Council on Developmental Disabilities

National Disability Institute in Washington, DC
(Michael Morris, Johnette Hartnett, Michael
Roush)

EITC Carolinas Initiative at MDC, Inc.

The NC IDA and Asset Building Collaborative

The NC Assets Alliance

Local partner organizations in Charlotte,
Winston-Salem, Wilmington, and Greensboro
Project Partners

National Disability Institute – connects
persons with disabilities with opportunities
to build assets as a strategy to improve
their independence and self-determination

IDA and Asset Building Collaborative –
helps low- and moderate-income North
Carolinians build wealth and improve their
financial well-being;
NC Assets Alliance

Initially launched by the IDA Collaborative
and MDC, includes over forty
organizations and agencies that support
improvements in the state’s policies that
support asset-building.

Includes the NCCDD, the Arc of NC,
Easter Seals/UCP, and the Alliance of
Self-Advocates
Challenge # 1:
For Too Many People, Having a Disability
Leads to Poverty

One in four individuals with a disability in North
Carolina are living at or below the poverty level;

This compares to one in ten people without
disabilities.
Challenge # 2: Lack of financial
Information
 Too few financial coaching resources
directed at those with a disability
 Too few persons with a disability
receive
appropriate financial information;
 Policy barriers to building assets discourages
those with disabilities from taking charge of
their financial lives
Challenge # 3:
Most people with disabilities aren’t building
assets
The tools and strategies that have been
developed over the past 15 years to help
people of low income save and grow assets are
not generally being used by people with
disabilities.
Challenge # 3:
Most people with disabilities aren’t building
assets

Most individuals with disabilities have no
checking or savings account.

Less than 10% of people with disabilities own
their own homes compared with 70% of
Americans without a disability

83 percent of those with a disability surveyed
never claimed available tax credits or
deductions related to work.
Why are assets important to those
with a disability?

Affordable and accessible housing increases
freedom and independence;

Getting more education and training can lead to
a better job and a new community of friends;

A better job can increase financial
independence;

Having a job and money in the bank gives
people more choices, more control over their
lives, keeps people out of poverty;
Social Security and Medicaid are Essential
BUT

They may also keep recipients in poverty
by:
Limiting the assets they can own;
 Limiting the amount of money they can earn
from work


Poverty and a lack of assets limits
people’s choices, independence, and selfdetermination;
What is needed

Disability policy and programs must be
changed to lift people out of poverty by
encouraging work, savings, and building
assets;

People with disabilities should be able to own
a home and build savings AND still have
access to supports like Social Security and
Medicaid;
Response to challenges
Connect more people with disabilities
to asset building opportunities:

Statewide Summits on Assets for
Persons with Disabilities

Ongoing Advocacy/Alliance for Full
Participation

Asset Building Toolkit

Regional Assets Coalitions
Assets Summits
Convened an assets summit for the disability
community in both 2007 and 2009 as part of the NC
Conference on Financial Education and Asset
Building.



The disability community learned about asset building
opportunities and suggested ways they could be
improved;
Asset building groups learned more about the needs
of those with disabilities;
Both groups developed joint strategies and new
partnerships.
Policy Change
 The NC Assets Alliance has developed a set of
well-researched policy proposals tailored to the
needs of those with disabilities with the technical
assistance of NDI and disability organizations;
 Over fifty member organizations of the Task
Force are learning about how assets policy
relates to disability issues;
 Disability advocates are active members of the
Task Force.
Two policy examples
examples
Housing Policy

For individuals with disabilities, housing
accessibility may often be a challenge equal to
affordability.

Following the lead of the Kentucky Housing
Finance Corporation, the North Carolina Housing
Finance Agency will modify requirements for all
publicly financed multi-family housing to adopt
universal design standards for improved
accessibility.
IDAs
Expand the current system of Individual Development
Account (IDA) programs throughout the state by a)
increased funding; and b) expanding allowable uses
of IDA funds.

Expand the allowable use for IDA funds to include
purchase of a vehicle and/or technology as well as home
modifications.

Expand marketing and outreach to the disability
community to increase their awareness and use of an IDA
and strengthen supports for them in meeting their asset
goals once in the program.

Make all IDAs exempt from asset limits, not just those
funded by AFI
Advocacy Training and Education

Project partners speak at state and national
events and conferences and to the NC
General Assembly about the importance of the
work in North Carolina;

The NC Council on Developmental Disabilities
has identified asset building as one of its
ongoing priorities.
REITour: NC Council Member Jonathan Ellis
Speaks to the Press with Michael Morris of NDI
Assets Tool Kit
Designed and distributed an Asset Building
Toolkit for persons with developmental
disabilities developed by the National
Disability Institute that has been tested in
the disability community;
What the Toolkit Covers
Setting your own financial goals – what
are your dreams?
 Managing your money and banking
 The Earned Income Tax Credit
 Individual Development Accounts
 Home and Business Ownership
 Social Security Work Incentive Programs

An applied curriculum

Between classes, participants are asked
to do homework to put the information
into practice:
Go to a financial institution and find out
about checking and savings accounts;
 Find out if there is a VITA or Benefit Bank
site near them;
 Report back on their experiences; and
 Develop their own financial goals.

Links to the local community
The program also brings in speakers each
week to talk about progams they can
access in the community:
Free tax preparation;
 IDA programs;
 Ticket to Work and other employment
opportunities;
 Credit counseling, etc.

Piloted across the state
Pilot tested by:
 The Arc of Mecklenburg County and
Residential Support Services in Charlotte;
 The Adaptables and the Enrichment Center in
Winston-Salem; and
 The Cape Fear Asset Building Coalition (Easter
Seals/UCP and the Arc of Wilmington);
 UNC Greensboro Beyond Academics program
Cape Fear Asset Building
Coalition
•Began
meeting monthly starting November 2008
•Led by Easter Seals/UCP and The Arc in
Wilmington, NC
•Technical Assistance from all of project partners
Piloting Assets Tools
•
Held 6 Toolkit module trainings from January
2009 – May 2009
• Graduated 10 persons with disabilities
from the trainings
• Families and support people felt they learned
as much as the participants
• Feeling of financial empowerment by those
participating
Cape Fear ABC Training Graduation
Certificate of Completion
Results of Toolkit Pilot
 Groups want to use it again with a second group
of participants, families, and support personnel;
 Families and support personnel said they felt the
information was also valuable to them;
 The Cape Fear AB group and The Arc have now
started their own VITA program combined with
The Benefit Bank of North Carolina (TBB-NC);
 Statewide, The Arc is now adopting AB and
benefits outreach initiatives.
More on Cape Fear ABC
•
Coalition also developed an IDA Subcommittee
that meets monthly.
•
IDA subcommittee’s goal is to have an IDA
program available to persons with disabilities
and others who want to start a small business.
•
One challenge is that the IDA program is set up
to be geographically based – they would like to
see a statewide program that anyone could join
regardless of their location.
Expanded Focus on Youth in
Transition
Beyond Academics program at University of North
Carolina, Greensboro Campus
Students with developmental disabilities attend
classes at UNCG and live with other student
mentors in an apartment setting
Preparing for internships/jobs while at school and
work after graduation
Giving Youth the Tools They Need

The Toolkit was a perfect complement to the
combination of independent living and work
that was the goal of the program;
 Student mentors and staff also found the
information to be really valuable which helped
to reinforce the importance of the content;
 Now Beyond Academics is using it as part of
their ongoing program and incorporating NDI’s
BEST approach.
Next Steps
We would like the Toolkit to be used in the public
school system (high school) as well as in the
compensatory education programs at community
colleges and university programs like Beyond
Academics;
Working with the national Alliance for Full
Participation to incorporate AB and financial
coaching into its policy and program focus;
Promoting the ABLE Act to reduce impact of
asset limits

Working with disability groups across the state to
either become VITA and/or Benefit Bank sites or to
expand their outreach to those with disabilities;

Developing financial coaching models for use in a
variety of settings

Working to include SSI and SSDI as part of The
Benefit Bank to reduce the cycle of
homelessness/hospitalization/incarceration sometimes
faced by those with persistent mental health
disabilities, including veterans
Information and Outreach Resources:

EITC Carolinas: http://www.eitc-carolinas.org

N.C. Assets Alliance: www.ncassets.org

The Benefit Bank: www.tbb.org

National Disability Institute: www.ndi.org

World Disability Institute: www.wdi.org

N.C. IDA and Asset Building Collaborative:
www.ncidacollaborative.org
Thank you!
Lucy Gorham
Senior Program Director
MDC, Inc.
400 Silver Cedar Court, Suite 300
Chapel Hill, NC
(919) 968-4531 x 348
[email protected]