Asset Building Program

Archives: Asset Building Program Transcripts and Supporting Documents

Testimony of Michael Calabrese Before the Subcommittee on Economic Policy of the US Senate Committee on Banking

March 28, 2012

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, for this opportunity to testify today. I am a Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan policy institute here in Washington. New America’s Asset Building Program develops and incubates innovative policy proposals to enable low- and middle-income families in the U.S. and around the world to accumulate savings, access financial services, develop financial capability, and build and protect productive assets across the life course.

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Testimony of David Rothstein to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, Urban Affairs

March 15, 2012

Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Corker, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify on behalf of Policy Matters Ohio and the New America Foundation. Policy Matters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute that focuses on issues impacting low- and moderate-income working families.

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The Asset Building Program Comments on Treasury’s Financial Access Activities

November 16, 2011

On November 14, 2011, the Asset Building Program of the New America Foundation submitted a response to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Financial Education and Financial Access (OFEFA) request for feedback on its financial access activities.

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Recovery and Resiliency

November 14, 2011

CASA of Oregon, Neighborhood Partnerships, and NeighborWorks Umpqua hosted Rebuilding the Path of Opportunity: An Oregon Asset Builders' Conference on November 9-10. Rachel Black presented "Recovery and Resiliency" at a plenary exploring the landscape of policy options to expand savings opportunities among lower-income households from the local to the national level. In the presentation, she gives a federal policy perspective and argues that helping households build financial resiliency through savings should be a core part of the economic recovery agenda.

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Income Growth and Inequality: What is the Reality?

November 8, 2011

This presentation was given at an event hosted by the American Action Forum, "Income Growth and Inequality: What is the Reality?"  The presentation offers perspectives on income and wealth inequality, looking at the unequal distribution of assets across race and household net worth. Pervasive inequality undermines the core American values of democracy, meritocracy, and social mobility and must be addressed in a multifaceted way.

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Opening Savings Accounts at Tax-Time

November 8, 2011

On November 3rd, Rachel Black presented "Opening Savings Accounts at Tax-Time: From Pilot to Policy" as part of the "Savings at Tax Time: Field Experiments and Policy Implications" session at the 2011 APPAM Research Conference in Washington, DC. This session detailed the latest findings from $aveNYC, a pilot launched by the City of New York to increase savings at tax-time, detailed the research agenda for the SaveUSA pilot expansion, and explored the implications this model has for federal policy design.

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Coming Up with Cash in a Pinch: Emergency Savings & Its Alternatives

October 11, 2011

This presentation was given for “Coming Up with Cash in a Pinch: Emergency Savings and Its Alternatives,” a Family Financial Security Webinar by the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin.  The webinar details a comprehensive review of savings and households' ability to access cash quickly to meet unexpected expenses, policy recommendations that can support emergency savings, and the work of a non-profit counseling and financial empowerment center in New York City. 

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The Asset Building Program Comments on the CFPB’s Request for Feedback on Defining “Larger Participant” for the Non-Bank Supervision Program

September 1, 2011

On August 12, 2011, the Asset Building Program of the New America Foundation submitted a response to the CFPB’s request for feedback on defining “larger participant” in certain consumer financial products and services markets.

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Testimony of David Rothstein to the US House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight

July 28, 2011

Chairman Boustany, Ranking Member Lewis, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify on behalf of Policy Matters Ohio, the New America Foundation, and the National Community Tax Coalition. My research is primarily focused on the financial status and socioeconomic challenges experienced by the millions of low-and moderate-income tax filers in the United States, and my comments reflect the perspective of those who provide free tax assistance to these individuals through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program.

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Advancing Workplace Savings Initiatives

July 15, 2011

On July 15, 2011, Reid Cramer, Director of the Asset Building Program, presented the keynote address to the Advancing Workplace Savings Initiatives conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond emphasizing the need to provide automatic savings opportunities to more Americans and presenting the most recent learnings and policy implication from the AutoSave pilot.

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