Transcript The 2007-2008 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard

The 2007-2008 Assets and
Opportunity Scorecard
Andrea Levere, President
Jennifer Brooks, Policy Director
Jerome Uher, Communications Director
CFED
September 12, 2007
CFED
 CFED works to expand economic opportunity
by helping more people save and invest, own
homes, succeed as entrepreneurs, contribute
to and benefit from the economy.
 CFED’s special expertise is to connect public
policy, private markets, and community
practice to bring effective approaches for
building wealth and financial security to scale
at the local, state and national levels.
Assets and Opportunity Scorecard
 Most comprehensive tool
measuring ownership and
financial security at state level
 Provides assessment of how
well states support efforts of
residents to build and protect
their assets
 Focus on assets is essential for
lower-income Americans to
enter the economic
mainstream and build wealth
Assets and Opportunity Scorecard
Measures how different types of assets combine to promote
economic opportunity. Organizes data in 5 categories that
define how to build and protect wealth in today’s economy:
 Financial security
 Business development
 Homeownership
 Health care
 Education
Framework underscores need to integrate asset development,
asset protection and social insurance to advance financial
security for all Americans
New and Improved in 2007-2008
 Presents both quantitative data on 46
performance indicators and qualitative
measures on 38 policies for each state and DC
 For the 1st time, the Scorecard:
 Includes proprietary data on debt
 Expands analysis of data by race, gender, income
 Highlights 12 core policies with demonstrated
effectiveness in asset development & protection
Assets Across America:
The National Picture
 Good news in net worth since the 2005 Scorecard:
 Median household net worth rose 26% to $65,150
 Rose 77% to $48,500 for women; 114% to $11,640 for
minorities
 Caution: growth driven primarily by increasing home values,
which may not be sustainable
 Yet, foundation that undergirds asset base is fragile:
 15.5% of all households have zero or negative net worth
 21% of middle-class households are asset poor—meaning they
could not survive at the poverty level for 3 months if income
interrupted, thus unable to invest in their own futures
Assets Across America:
The National Picture (cont.)
 Further, substantial economic disparities endure:
 For every $1 of net worth in white household,
minority household has only13 cents
 For every $1 of net worth in male-headed household,
women-headed households have only 59 cents
Findings on Financial Security
 15.5% of all households have zero or negative net
worth; however, higher rates for female-headed
(19%) and minority-headed (26%) households
 Wealth also varies by geography: for every $1 of
household net worth in MA, households in NM have
just 10 cents
 Many Americans operate outside financial
mainstream: 28% have neither checking nor savings
account
 Median credit card balance is $1,690 (compared to
the median monthly income of $4,017)
Findings on Homeownership
 Homeownership—largest component of personal net
worth—at an all-time high (69%), but rate varies:
 White 72.1%; African American 45.8%; Women 61.2%
 Affordability varies enormously by geography:
 OK has most affordable homes—median home price
slightly more than twice (2.16) median income
 CA has least affordable homes—6.33 times median income
 Average mortgage debt is $124,000—highest in CA
($247,200); lowest in WV ($62,700)
 But foreclosure rate is rising—increasing 30% to 1.28%
between Q2/06 and Q1/07, with rates even higher now
Findings on Business Development
 Small business and microenterprise ownership—2nd
largest component of personal net worth—is up
 Small business ownership rose 33% (2003-2005)
 Microenterprise ownership rose 10.7% (2001-2004)
 31% increase in Hispanic small business ownership
(1997-2002)
 No significant change in African-American small
business ownership over same period (1997-2002)
Findings on Health Insurance
 63.2% of Americans covered by employer-sponsored insurance,
1% decrease (1.2 million people) from last Scorecard
 36% of low-income parents are uninsured, compared to 16%
of parents at all income levels
 18.5% of low-income children are uninsured, a 1.5% decrease
from last Scorecard (roughly 211,000 more insured children)
 Health care insurance coverage varies by geography:
 Low-income children in TX (28.6%) are nearly 4 times as
likely to be uninsured as VT children (7.3%)
 54% of low-income parents in TX are uninsured, compared
to14% in HI
Findings on Education
 72% lack a college degree—a credential often necessary to
earn a living wage
 Geographic variation is significant: 37.6% of heads of
household in MA hold 4-year college degrees, compared to
17.6% in WV
 Degrees vary by race & income: 22.2% of minorities vs.
29.6% of whites; 57% of top vs. 10% of bottom quintile
 Only about one third (28%) of 8th grade students are
proficient in math
 Nearly half (48%) of ND’s children in poverty are enrolled in
Head Start; NC enrolls only 13%
Grading
 Grades
 Based on ranked
outcome measures
 Distributed on a
curve (see right)
 Policy Ratings
 Based on Scorecard
criteria for strong,
effective policy
Grade distribution
Grade
Rank
A
1-10
B
11-20
C
21-35
D
36-46
F
47-51
Policy rating
All criteria met
Most criteria met
Some criteria met
Few criteria met
No criteria met
State Grades
State Policy
 Policies provide opportunities for families to build assets and
safety nets to protect what they’ve got
 Scorecard includes 38 policies; highlights detailed information
on 12 Core Policies that provide financial security &
opportunity
 Core Policy selection criteria:
 Collectively, reflect all elements of asset building &
protection agenda
 Ambitious, yet achievable—all have been well-tested on
the ground & vetted in state houses
 Comparatively, straightforward and easy to understand
12 Core Policies
1. Asset Limits in Public Benefit
Programs
2. Curbing Predatory Lending
3. Expanded Coverage for Medicaid
and SCHIP
4. Housing Trust Funds
5. Incentives for College Savings
6. Microenterprise Support
12 Core Policies (cont.)
7. School Spending Fairness
8. State EITC
9. State Supported Preschool
10. Support for Community
Development Lenders
11. Support for IDA Programs
12. Tax Expenditure Reports
State Policy Action
 Many states have acted to improve policy
 Provides significant base for action; however,
most states have more to do more
Policy
# of states Policy
# of states
Asset limits
47
Support for IDA programs
18
Housing trust fund
38
Microenterprise support
18
State supported preschool
37
Expanded Medicaid/SCHIP coverage
17
Tax expenditure reports
26
School spending fairness
15
Curbing predatory lending
24
Support for community lenders
10
State EITC
19
Incentives for college savings
6
Scorecard Resources for You
www.cfed.org/go/scorecard
All data available for download
State summary of data
Trend indicators showing change in 14 measures over time
Detailed information on12 core policies and additional data on
26 other asset policies
 Downloadable issue briefs and policy briefs on each of the 12
core policies
 Guide to create customized state scorecards
 CFED’s center for policy advocacy
 Media Resources and Templates
 10 Ways to Use the Scorecard
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Contact
Jerome Uher
Communications Director
CFED
[email protected]
(202) 207-0132