What's New

What's New 2012

July 2012

The Institute on Assets and Social Policy inaugurates a Senior Advisory Board

The Institute on Assets and Social Policy is pleased to inaugurate a Senior Advisory Board. Members Bob Herbert, Melvin L. Oliver, and Paula Paris, MMHS '79, share IASP’s mission of promoting a better understanding of how assets and asset-building opportunities improve the well-being and financial stability of individuals and families left out of the economic mainstream.

Mr. Herbert is an award winning journalist with a long and distinguished career including an Op-Ed column on politics and social trends in The New York Times. He has been a regular correspondent for “The Today Show” and “NBC Nightly News” and has been honored by the American Society of Newspaper Editor’s for distinguished newspaper writing and by the Meyer Badge Award for coverage of New York City.

Dr. Oliver is an expert on racial and urban inequality and poverty as well as the SAGE Sara Miller McDune Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He co-authored Black Wealth/ White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality (2006) with IASP Director Dr. Tom Shapiro. In addition, Dr. Oliver has vast experience in philanthropy from his time as Vice President of the Asset Building and Community Development (Assets) Program at the Ford Foundation and serves on numerous non-profit boards.

Ms. Paris is Deputy Director at JFYNetWorks and has broad experience in commercial banking, fundraising in education and the arts, and public policy research, specifically workforce development. In addition to serving as an adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University’s School of Community Economic Development since 1999, Ms. Paris is a member of Heller’s Board of Overseers and a Heller alumna.

February 2012

Rapid Re-Housing and Short-Term Rental Vouchers for Homeless Families

IASP released a research study brief of a pilot rapid re-housing program for homeless families in Massachusetts. While the program offers many benefits over living in a shelter, key findings detail the economic challenges families face and their anxiety about the short- term nature of the rental subsidies.

January 2012

Assessing Diversity in NH’s Healthcare Workforce

IASP was awarded a University/Community Partnership grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, for the Study of Employment and Advancement of Racial, Ethnic and Linguistic Minorities, focused on workforce diversity opportunities and challenges in health care in New Hampshire.

Medicare, A Vital Component of Economic Security for U.S. Seniors, Must Be Protected

An IASP report finds that dismantling Medicare by changing its fee-for-service structure into an annual premium support program would have a devastating effect on the economic security of seniors.  Under Rep. Ryan’s proposal, economic security among seniors will fall from 24% to only 18%, and health security will fall from 41% to a meager 3%.

What's New 2011

December 2011

Neighborhoods: Foreclosure’s Silent Victims

In an article in the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Winter 2012 publication of Communities & Banking, Hannah Thomas, Research Associate at IASP, illustrations how neighborhoods are interested parties in foreclosures yet have no legal redress to lessen the impact of foreclosed properties on neighborhood well-being.

November 2011

Compass Financial Stability and Savings Program Pilot Evaluation

Aimed at helping low-income families save and build assets, Compass Working Capital’s Financial Stability and Savings Program is an innovative variation on HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program. IASP’s report analyzes the implementation strategies and early outcomes of this pilot program. First year results demonstrate great promise for future program replication. Effective outreach and marketing have increased FSS program participation by almost 200% in the city of Lynn, MA. The Compass program’s financial education and coaching are helping participants develop asset building strategies and encourage employment that has resulted in over one-third of participants beginning to accrue savings in an escrow account.

October 2011

Rising Economic Insecurity Among Senior Single Women

Nearly half (47%) of all senior single women in America do not have adequate retirement resources to meet even their most basic needs for the remainder of their lives, and this number is rising. This distressing statistic is among the findings from a report released today by IASP and Dēmos, the latest in the Living Longer on Less series. This report finds that rising housing expenses, fixed and inadequate household budgets, and very low levels of retirement assets are contributing to rapidly rising economic insecurity among senior single women. Single women are especially vulnerable to economic insecurity in retirement due to the limited lifetime asset building capacity many women face, driven by the persistent wage gap, high levels of part-time work and ineligibility for retirement benefits, as well as extended periods out of the labor force due to family care-giving duties.

Webinar: "From Bad to Worse: Senior Economic Insecurity on the Rise"

In only four years, seniors at risk of outliving their resources increased by nearly 2 million households. Using the Senior Financial Stability Index, economic insecurity among senior households increased by one-third, rising from 27% to 36% from 2004 to 2008. This steady and dramatic increase was in progress even before the full force of the Great Recession hit. This webinar, hosted by the National Council on Aging (NCOA), explores the findings of IASP's two recent studies on this issue: From Bad to Worse: Senior Economic Insecurity on the Rise and The Crisis of Economic Insecurity for African-American and Latino Seniors. Speakers include IASP Research Director Dr. Tatjana Meschede (lead author), as well as Ramsey Alwin, Director of NCOA's Economic Security Initiative. Listen to the Recording or View the Presentation.

Foreclosure Fiasco: Documentation Challenges and Policy Solutions

Sponsored by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy and presented by Suffolk Law School, the "Foreclosure Fiasco" conference explored policy responses that could alleviate the immediate fiasco created by problematic loan documentation and prevent a recurrence in the future. Challenges for lawyers (who represent borrowers), tenants, lenders, servicers, title companies, and people who buy homes at foreclosure sales were addressed. See the coverage of the conference in Banker & Tradesman.

September 2011

OUP Empowerment Series "Homelessness" Webcast

IASP Research Director Tatjana Meschede was a featured participant in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of University Partnerships (OUP) Empowerment Series "The Key to Unlocking Homelessness in America: Emerging Trends in HUD-Sponsored Research" webinar.

Minding the Wealth Gap

IASP Director Tom Shapiro joins award-winning journalist Callie Crossley of WGBH's The Callie Crossley Show to discuss escalating poverty rates, the top one percent, and forces behind the widening racial wealth gap. 

The Crisis of Economic Insecurity for African-American and Latino Seniors

New research from IASP and Dēmos reveals crisis levels of economic insecurity among current African-American and Latino seniors. The latest report in the “Living Longer on Less” series, “The Crisis of Economic Insecurity for African-American and Latino Seniors,” found that 52% of African-American and 56% of Latino Seniors do not have adequate retirement resources to meet their basic needs throughout their expected life-spans. Driven by extremely low levels of asset wealth and high housing costs, most seniors of color are struggling financially during their elder years. Forced to rely on adult children and public programs just to get by, these distressing statistics both exacerbate and are a by-product of the growing racial wealth gap.

New Programs Aim To Close The Wealth Gap (Part 2)

In Part Two of  NPR's report, IASP Director Tom Shapiro discusses children's savings accounts as tools for narrowing the racial wealth gap.

Making It In The US: More Than Just Hard Work (Part 1)

IASP Director Tom Shapiro discusses the racial wealth gap on NPR's Morning Edition