William Elliott III and Deborah Adams recommend taking $3 billion from the Perkins program and using it to establish a program where public funds would match money contributed by families, charities and organizations for an individual child's account.

But although the state has great architecture in place to help residents, it can do a better job, notes David Rothstein of Ohio Policy Matters. For example, he said, Ohio requires financial literacy in schools, but "because that's an unfunded mandate, ...

Additionally, many prepaid cards offer savings programs, which help consumers save money. As noted in New America Foundation's policy paper, Beyond Barriers: Designing Savings Accounts for Lower-Income Consumers, "consumers using the savings pocket of a prepaid card reported that customers who set up defaults or automatic transfers into their savings accounts had more success accumulating savings." The policy paper further recommended "to help bridge the gap between where small-dollar savings products are offered and where consumers are located . . .

The New America Foundation's Asset Building Program today commended President Obama’s recess appointment of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), former Ohio Attorney General and current CFPB Director of Enforcement, Richard Cordray. Reid Cramer, director of the Asset Building Program, issued the following statement: