Research

This brief outlines growing body of research that supports the notion that assets and children's savings play an important role in helping families move up the economic ladder.

Research shows that: 1) CSAs provide opportunities for economic mobility; 2) CSAs change expectations for the future including plans for college; 3) CSAs can increase savings rates; and 4) CSAs can help expand the economy and create stable communities

This Assets & Opportunity one-page brief highlights key research showing how Children's Savings Accounts help households build assets.

Research has show that children's savings accounts can increase savings, change expectations and behavior, including plans for college, and help expand the economy.

This paper, authored by the Center for Social Development, provides a review of 38 studies on the relationship between assets and children’s educational attainment.

The paper also discusses implications for Child Savings Account policies. CSD proposes that CSAs should be designed so that, in addition to promoting savings, they include aspects that help make children’s college-bound identity salient, congruent with children’s group identity, and that help children develop strategies for overcoming difficulties.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze community and city-wide Children's Savings Account innovations in the U.S. and to examine the role that Community Based Organizations (CBOs) play in these innovations.

The paper explores the theory behind CBO engagement in asset-building and the roles CBOs typically play at the local level, describes the roles performed by CBOs in the SEED Initiative, describes several city-wide innovations that are designed to deliver CSAs on a larger scale, and concludes with several key recommendations about the proper role for CBOs in providing support for CSA initiatives at the community level, city level, and beyond.