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2001 Conference Home | Agenda | Participants | Presentations | Key Topics | Sample Outcomes | Briefing Report | Final Report | Images from Conference

Sponsored by the Annie E. Casey and Ford Foundations

On November 1-2, 2001 the Center for Social Development (CSD), George Warren Brown of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Corporation for Enterprise Development, held the first national state IDA policy and program meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. After months of planning, with support from the Annie E. Casey and Ford Foundations, the meeting entitled: "States and IDAs: Building Support For and Capacity of State Initiatives" became the nation's first assembly of key state leaders, who advocate and develop Individual Development Account policy and programs. More than 60 invited guests from thirty states and the District of Columbia were in attendance at the day and a half long conference. Invitees were selected for their known leadership roles in areas such as IDA policy advocacy, program development and administration, and coalition building.

In less than 10 years, thirty-two states and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation, ten states have engaged administrative rulemaking to establish IDA programs, and thirty-two states have included IDAs in their state welfare reform plans. Conversely, IDAs are new to the policy landscape of many states and IDA programs have grown so quickly that the overall impact of state IDA policy may be seen as uneven, not designed with currently favored policy and practices in mind, or may be too limited in scope (including the fact that most policy has been designed to support "demonstration" programs). For these reasons the meeting provided a forum for states to share informational resources as they create and develop new IDA legislation, revise existing legislation, or develop programs.

The opening session began with a welcome and presentation about the current status of IDA policy in the states from conference organizer Karen Edwards, Program Coordinator at CSD. The next part of the session, moderated by Carl Rist, co-organizer, CFED, included a report from each of the states represented, addressing five questions distributed in advance.

At the opening session on the following day, Nancy Farmer, Missouri State Treasurer, offered wonderful introductory remarks reflecting how important IDAs and other asset-building policies are to progressive economic development at the state level. Second day presentations focused on such topics as funding sources and capacity-building strategies; asset-building policy advocacy and coalition building; delivery systems and financial institution partners; and evaluations and costs. Each set of presentations was followed by small group discussions, which were summarized through an exchange of ideas and topics by the group at large.

The conference ended with a discussion of "next steps" -- items needed for continuing the work of the group, and an exchange of ideas on "what is needed" to facilitate the process and further facilitate communication among the group.

Below is a sampling of meeting outcomes and key discussion topics:

Sampling of meeting outcomes

• State IDA policy and program leaders came together as peers, establishing commonality not previously known.
• A short summary of general program information, including the active status of each state program represented, the number of accounts open, the number of assets purchased, etc., was stated and collected.
• Key strategies for developing policy and program were shared in presentation form, in small group discussions, and among the larger group in feedback sessions.
• Challenges to developing quality state IDA policy and programs were identified, more fully defined, and discussed.
• A wide range of funding sources and possible funding sources, including associated limitations in use, were discussed (and discovered).
• Essential networking occurred, establishing associations and opening doors for future discussion and consulting.

Some key topics and issues addressed during discussion sessions:

• Accessing federal private, municipal, and state funding streams.
• Gaining a better understanding of how to advocate for IDA policy.
• How to develop policy initiatives at local and state levels.
• Building an effective coalition, while forming new linkages with associated organizations around asset building and poverty alleviation.
• Building an effective infrastructure for delivery systems of state IDA programs.
• Building organizational capacity, and developing effective methods for board creation and development.
• Sharing and identifying development strategies, including funding, for building an IDA community within a state.
• Information on key financial topics, such as leveraging state tax credits and suggestions on how to get the cooperation of financial institutions.
• Better defining program evaluation and brainstorming suggestions for determining what kind of evaluations might be useful for state programs (and how to accomplish them).
• Developing an effective self-evaluation tool -- using the information collected to shape an effective marketing package for legislators and funders.
  

Center for Social Development
George Warren Brown School of Social Work
Washington University
Campus Box 1196
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63130-4899
tel: (314) 935-7433
fax: (314) 935-8661
csd@wustl.edu