Negotiating CRA

Asset Building
CRA-NC has joined with many groups across the
country in framing in social policy through the lens
of assets. Asset policies acknowledge the
protective effect that wealth confers upon a
family. Assets form a kind of moat against
emergencies.

Accountants define an asset as something with
worth in the future. This interpretation goes
beyond just financial vehicles and includes
housing, education, and other social goods.

CRA-NC participates in the North Carolina IDA and
Asset Building Collaborative. This partnership of
non-profits, government, and university
researchers seek to develop policies that
encourage savings and asset accumulation in
North Carolina families.

North Carolina ranks in the bottom tier of states,
according to the latest Assets and Opportunities
Scorecard published by CFED. This owes to North
Carolina's lagging performance in several areas:
We rank 48th in per pupil spending.
We rank last in the percentage of children in
poverty who are in Head Start.
We rank 43rd in the percentage of households
with non-interest bearing checking accounts.

Asset policy is often buttressed by some of the
same findings that underpin the need for better
access to housing. They both turn on research
that shows that turning America into an
"opportunity" society depends upon addressing
inequalities in access to many of the regular
institutions that make up everyday life.

Consider a few facts. For example, 70 percent
of low-income neighborhoods do not have a
single bank or credit union.

There is more of gap among races in terms of
assets than in terms of income: The average
white family in North Carolina earns 1.8 times
more than the average African-American
family, but has ten (10) times more in assets.

Almost one in three of North Carolina's
children live in a home with fewer than three
months of savings.