Nearly half of Oklahoma households are one misstep away from financial insecurity

Despite an improving national economy and a (deceptively) low statewide average unemployment rate, nearly half (49.1 percent) of Oklahoma households are in a persistent state of financial insecurity, according to a report released today by the Corporation for Enterprise Development… Read more [More...]

[Closing The Gap, Part 5] Past is future: Intergenerational wealth

This is the fifth post in a running series based on our recent report, Closing the Opportunity Gap: Building Equity in Oklahoma, which assesses the racial wealth gap and proposes solutions for closing that gap through asset-building. Previous posts detailed … Read more [More...]

[Closing The Gap, Part 4] Regenerative assets: Why you need money to make money

This is the fourth post in a running series based on our recent report, Closing the Opportunity Gap: Building Equity in Oklahoma, which assesses the racial wealth gap and proposes solutions for closing that gap through asset-building.  Previous posts explored … Read more [More...]

Watch This: The Racial Wealth Gap in America

The racial wealth gap has been a hot topic lately on our blog.  The United States remains one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet escaping poverty and achieving prosperity remains out of reach for millions of Americans.  Too… Read more [More...]

Richard Cordray: "The marketplace is hostile to those in poverty."

These comments were excerpted from a speech given by Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, at the 2012 Assets Learning Conference, a biannual gathering on asset-building hosted by CFED (Corporation for Enterprise Development) in Washington D.C. The… Read more [More...]

A Rock and a Hard Place: 'Asset-tests' and Oklahoma's poor

The federal ‘Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations‘ (FDPIR) program provides food assistance to low-income Native American households living in Indian Country.  Many households participate in FDPIR as an alternative to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), formerly the food stamp… Read more [More...]

Going to scale: Initiatives to strengthen financial security are spreading

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the 2010 Assets Learning Conference that brought together over 1,000 participants for three days of plenaries, workshops and sessions exploring approaches to building an economy in which all Americans, including those of… Read more [More...]

The 2010 Assets Learning Conference: Creating the Save and Invest Economy

This week I am participating, along with over 1,000 other delegates from around the U.S. and a dozen foreign countries, in the biannual Assets Learning Conference hosted by CFED in Washington, DC (Click here to follow our Twitter feed from… Read more [More...]