December 2005
Innovative State Policies to Reduce Poverty and Expand the Middle Class: Building Asset Security Among Low-Income Households
This analysis suggests a number of states are charting new territory in the arena of social investments that are designed to address the root causes of poverty and wealth inequality in the nation. By highlighting specific policies that are designed to enable households to build assets and by examining how they came about, this document can serve as a roadmap for policymakers, advocates and interested individuals.
December 2005
Minimum Wage: Creating an Asset Foundation
This report examines the significance of federal and state minimum wage laws, explores the impact of the minimum wage since its inception and the arguments for and against increases over time. This is the first of a series that will focus on the building blocks for an integrated asset policy framework emerging through state policies and practices that are advancing asset development at the state level and may drive change in federal policy.
December 2005
Perspective: Statewide Initiative in Illinois to Build Assets of Low-Income Families
Ricardo A. Millet, President of Woods Fund Chicago, writes about their relationship with the Institute on Assets and Social Policy and how their initiatives are working to build economic security for low-income families in Illinois. Download the document
November 2005
Perspective: Racing to the Top: Building and Preserving Assets in a Global Economy
Robert Reich, Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, writes about the global economy and the need to promote a race to the top to build and preserve assets and opportunity. Download the document
October 2005
Perspective: Women and Wealth: Expanding the Asset Development Paradigm
Anita F. Hill, Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women's Studies at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, writes about the need to improve and expand asset policies and development opportunities for women. Download the document
September 2005
Perspective: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
Thomas Shapiro, Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, and Melvin Oliver, Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology, College of Letters & Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, both write about racial wealth inequality in America. Download the document
July 2005
Building a Real "Ownership Society"
In this publication, J. Larry Brown, Robert Kuttner and Thomas M. Shapiro challenge the White House over how to build a true “ownership society.” The authors note that the Administration's stated goal of promoting ownership is being undermined by proposed policies which are at odds with how social investments actually built the nation's middle class. This cutting-edge analysis is expected to provide an alternative vision that holds promise to be successful.
July 2005
Perspective: Building Assets for Individuals, Communities and Business
Elizabeth Y.A. Ferguson, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Bay Area Family of Funds, writes about how the business community in the Bay Area, California, works to improve economic opportunities and asset building for individuals and communities. Download the document
June 2005
Affordable Housing in the Suburbs: Tools for Citizen-Led Affordable Housing Development
The Institute partnered with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the Fannie Mae Foundation to sponsor a conference exploring issues, strategies and messages to improve access to affordable housing in the suburban Boston region. Nearly 140 citizen leaders, elected officials and non-profit, municipal and state staff attended this conference. Read the conference summary
June 2005
Perspective: Creating a Genuine Opportunity Society
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) writes about how progressive values of opportunity, fairness, tolerance, and respect for others can expand asset-building opportunities for all hard working Americans. Download the document
May 2005
Perspective: Youth and Financial Assets
Andrew Hahn, Ph.D. '78, a member of IASP and Professor at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, talks about the current state of youth asset-building policy in the U.S. Download the document
May 2005
A Black Tax on Wealth Accumulation
This commentary by IASP member Thomas Shapiro, Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, reveals how history is defining the future for Black families with few assets. This guest commentary originally appeared on the Dēmos web site.
April 2005
Asset Opportunity Ladder
The Asset Opportunity Ladder charts the many policies that can impact the ability to build assets over a lifetime. At each life stage innovative state and federal policies can aid in creating an asset foundation, strengthening human capacities, and building financial wealth. The gains extend not only to the social and economic well-being of individuals and their families, but also benefit the larger community and the economy.
April 2005
Perspective: Building Assets and Asset Wealth
William H. Gates Sr., co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Chuck Collins, co-founder and Senior Fellow at United for a Fair Economy, propose creating a GI bill-style wealth-broadening program for future generations based on tax revenue generated from a reformed federal estate tax. Download the document
March 2005
Building a Real "Ownership Society"
Transcript of a speech given by J. Larry Brown at the American Public Human Services Administrators conference. Dr. Brown was asked to debate Clarence Carter, former Director of the federal Office of Community Service (OCS) under the Bush administration, over the definition of the "Ownership Society" concept.
March 2005
Perspective: A Real Ownership Society
Robert Kuttner, a member of IASP and a syndicated columnist and co-editor at The American Prospect, talks about what a real "Ownership Society" looks like and how President Bush's plan will take us down the wrong road. Download the document
March 2005
Social Security's generation gap
In this article recently published in USA Today, IASP faculty member and former secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, Robert Reich, describes the dangers facing younger generations if President Bush's Social Security plan were to pass.
February 2005
Defending the Dream: Economic Opportunity and Tax Fairness" Conference, February 6-8, 2005, Washington, DC
The aim of this conference was to bring together a diverse group of constituencies from different issues and provide them with a chance to share ideas. Participants were able to learn what progressive tax reform might look like, how we might link the fair taxes conversation to a renewed commitment to broad-based asset building, closing the racial wealth divide, and building a progressive rather than regressive ownership society. Planning partners included: Institute on Assets and Social Policy (Brandeis), The American Prospect, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, National Council of La Raza, and United for a Fair Economy.
January/February 2005
Perspective: What Would Privatization Do to Social Security Insurance?
J. Larry Brown explains how the privatization of Social Security would undermine the guaranteed protections we all receive under this national insurance plan. Download the document
November 2004
Raising the Bar
This article was co-authored by Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Ph.D. student Daphne Hunt and focuses on the need to reward better-trained child-care and preschool teachers. Hunt recently joined the Institute on Assets and Social Policy as a Research Assistant.
October 2004
Running in Reverse
This commentary on the widening wealth gap for Hispanic and African-American families in the current economy by Dr. Tom Shapiro first appeared on the American Progress Action Fund web site. Shapiro is Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, and a member of its Institute on Assets and Social Policy.
September 2004
Institute Co-Hosts D.C. Conference on Bootstrap Capitalism
The Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, joined the New America Foundation and policyAmerica to co-host a meeting examining asset policy expansions in the arenas of banking and financial services. 250 representatives from Congress, various foundations, and national advocacy and policy organizations attended this conference. Dr. J. Larry Brown joined Professor Michael Sherraden (author of the 1991 book Assets and the Poor) on a panel to discuss the future of asset policy. Other Institute participants included Dr. Thomas Shapiro and The American Prospect editor, Robert Kuttner.
July 2004
Asset Development for Low-Income Women: A Framework for Success
Presentation and handouts by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy's Sandra Venner, during the National Conference of State Legislatures' Annual Meeting on July 21, 2004, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
May 2004
Poverty and Inequality: Albatross or Opportunity?
Recent keynote speech given by Dr. J. Larry Brown at the Tri-State Community Action Agencies (CAA) Conference on Cape Cod, MA, on May 19, 2004.
May 2004
Center recognized in recent book by N.Y. Times reporter Richard Rothstein
The work of Dr. J. Larry Brown and the Center on Hunger and Poverty has been covered extensively in New York Times education reporter Richard Rothstein's new book, Class and Schools (Columbia University, 2004). Click here for more information on the book.
April 2004
Inclusion in the Economic Mainstream: The Promise of Asset Development
One-page summary of the Asset Development Institute's (ADI) February conference on inclusion of minority groups in the economic mainstream through the use of an asset-based policy framework.
March 2004
Poverty In America: How Did the Working Get So Poor?
Recent keynote speech given by Dr. J. Larry Brown at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs in Boston on February 22, 2004.
March 2004
Creating a Genuine "Opportunity Society"
This recent speech by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), delivered at the Center for Humanities, City University of New York, proposes major new initiatives to create a genuine opportunity society, including new policies to help families build the assets they need for social mobility and economic security.
February 2004
Book review on The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality
Washington Post review of Dr. Thomas M. Shapiro's new book entitled The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality. Dr. Shapiro is Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
January 2004
Syndicated columnist highlights Center's asset policy work
This recent column by Robert Kuttner in the Boston Globe highlights some of the Center's work around asset policy issues.
September 2003
Pathways to Getting Ahead
This booklet is targeted to young adults, and aims to spur thinking about the importance of asset building in their personal lives and about how larger policy decisions impact the choices they make. It identifies numerous ways to locate important information through local sources, 800 numbers, and the web. The booklet is a joint project of the Public and Community Affairs Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and ADI.
September 2003
Inclusion in the Economic Mainstream: The Promise of Asset Development
Larry Beeferman was an invited presenter at the session on Race, Immigration and Wealth: Interactions and Policy Directions at Harvard University's 2003 Color Lines Conference, August 29 - September 1.
July 2003
Maximizing Income and Assets to Help Low-Income Workers
Larry Beeferman was an invited panelist on the National Governors Association' Center for Best Practices' July 9, 2003 Webcast on "Making the Most of Limited Resources to Help Low-Income Workers." Watch and listen to video and audio versions of his remarks on "Maximizing Income and Assets to Help Low-Income Workers." Read the background document for his remarks
July 2003
Connecting the Dots for Poor Children
Dr. Jack P. Shonkoff, Dean of The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, writes in the Boston Globe that the welfare reauthorization process should be driven by long-term investment in the healthy development and behavior of our nation's most vulnerable children.
May 2002
National Center on Women and Aging
View the opening remarks, Women and Assets: The Promise of Asset Development, by Larry Beeferman.
September 2002
The Asset Index: Assessing the Progress of States in Promoting Economic Security and Opportunity
A new Asset Development Institute report provides the first state-by-state comparative study of key assets that all Americans need to succeed in today's economy. The 39 indicators paint a multi-faceted portrait of the progress that has been made in different regions of the country and in particular states. Read the press release and full report.
May 2002
Brown gives keynote address at the USDA's Children, Youth, and Families at Risk conference
Read J. Larry Brown's keynote address given May 29th in New Orleans.
January 2002
The Promise of Asset Development Policies, Realizing the Promise: Individual Development Accounts
The Winter 2002 issue of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Communities and Banking magazine features Larry W. Beeferman describing the promise and elements of an asset development policy framework. Read the article
December 2001
What comes after welfare reform?
In an article in the Boston Review, J. Larry Brown and Larry W. Beeferman argue that the welfare reauthorization debate is the domestic policy opportunity of the near future.
October 2001
Discover the opportunities asset development policies provide
In a new Asset Development Institute report, Larry W. Beeferman writes on how consensus might be reached on the new policy opportunity asset development provides.
September 2001
New U.S. poverty estimates released
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the overall poverty rate fell in 2000, but poverty rates for African Americans and Latinos are still double that of other groups of people, and the gap between the rich and poor persists. Read the report
June 2001
Families Who've Lost Welfare Need Help
Read the op-ed by J. Larry Brown and Dorie Seavey featured in The Boston Globe. For a copy, please contact the Center.
April 2001
Asset Development Institute releases report on Promising State Asset Development Policies
A new Asset Development Institute report identifies state policies and programs that demonstrate the potential to turn domestic policy on its head, by investing in the capacity of all American households to maximize economic well-being and productivity.
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