Policy Recommendations for Financial Capability and Asset Building by Increasing Access to Safe, Affordable Credit

Strong credit is a prerequisite for financial well-being, but many U.S. consumers lack access to safe and affordable credit options. This brief, released through the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative’s network toBuild Financial Capability for All, identifies policies that would enable households to build and maintain credit and that would ensure access to credit products with adequate consumer protections

Policy Recommendations for Helping U.S. Households Build Emergency Savings

In households without emergency savings, an unexpected expense or financial shock can heighten stress and threaten the ability to meet basic needs. This brief, released through the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative’s network toBuild Financial Capability for All, identifies three types of policies to enable U.S. households to save for emergencies

Policy Recommendations for Expanding Access to Banking and Financial Services

Access to financial services is a necessity in the modern economy, yet many households lack such access. This brief, released through the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative’s network toBuild Financial Capability for All, identifies policies with the potential to expand access to financial services for households in the United States

Social Workers’ Interest in Building Individuals’ Financial Capabilities

Social workers have many opportunities to integrate a focus on personal finance into their practice with mostly lower-income and vulnerable client populations. However, little is known about social workers’ interest in personal finance. Results of a survey of social workers (N = 56) interested in integrating personal finance content into their practice are reported in this paper. Ways in which social workers might further develop knowledge and skills in personal finance are discussed. Professional perspectives that social workers may lend to inform financial education and counseling and the emerging field of financial therapy are also explored. Social workers can offer an understanding of the environmental risks that affect the financial health of low-income individuals and families and resources that can help build financial capability

Debunking macro myths: findings from recent graduates about jobs, salaries and skills

Research suggests that interest in macro social work practice is declining, a trend that has been well documented in the United States. Studies find that social work educators and practitioners may foster beliefs among MSW students that discredit macro practice and associated skills while asserting macro graduates are likely to face poorer employment prospects and lower salaries than micro counterparts as they start their careers. This study builds on and extends this literature by examining 27 skills in their current job using a 5-point Likert-type scale among the early career trajectory of MSW alumni (N=182) who graduated between 2008--2012 from a public social work institution in the southeastern United States. The skills included in the survey, as well as decisions about how to group them into scales, were made based on theoretical links between the skills by macro faculty members. Findings highlight the use of macro practice skills regardless of concentration focus, no differences in salary, or the time it takes to find employment between micro and macro alumni. Implications for social work education are discussed

Youth Saving Patterns and Performance in Ghana

Youth Saving Patterns and Performance in Ghan

Financial Knowledge and Attitudes of Youth in Ghana

Financial Knowledge and Attitudes of Youth in Ghan

Do EITC Recipients Use Their Tax Refunds to Get Ahead? Evidence From the Refund to Savings Initiative

Many U.S. households lack savings for unexpected expenses and financial shocks, but tax refunds and the Earned Income Tax Credit offer opportunities to set aside resources for use in emergencies. Understanding what EITC recipients do with their tax refunds is important for guiding federal policy to promote financial stability. This brief summarizes findings on the use of tax refunds by EITC recipients in the Refund to Savings (R2S) initiative. It also examines the use of financial services for saving refunds and the financial shocks experienced by EITC recipients during the 6 months after tax filing

Employee Financial Wellness Programs: Differences in Reach by Race and Ethnicity

Employee Financial Wellness Programs (EF-WPs) consist of a wide array of workplace-based services and benefits that aim to enhance em-ployees’ financial well-being, such as in-person financial coaching, online financial management tools, and payroll advances or short-term loans. EFWP provision varies across employers with few organizations offering the same set of services. The recently released Employee Financial Well-ness Programs Project: Comprehensive Report of Findings notes that EFWP utilization rates and employee self-reported benefits also vary widely. This report continues the examination of varia-tion in EFWP trends by breaking down measures of EFWP reach by employee race and ethnicity. We examine three measures of differences in EFWP reach: awareness of, use of, and self-reported benefits from EFWP services. By examining these three measures by employee race and ethnicity, we hope to determine whether any group of em-ployees has a substantially different experience with EFWPs than others

Does Banking Experience Matter: Differences of the Banked and Unbanked in Individual Development Accounts

Using data from the 4-year American Dream Demonstration, this study compared saving performance and program participation of banked participants (n = 1,538) with unbanked participants (n = 466) enrolled in 14 IDA programs across the United States. The study found that unbanked participants had $3.26 lower average monthly net deposit (p\u3c.05) and 5% lower deposit frequency (p\u3c.001) than banked participants. Unbanked participants had 45% greater odds of dropout than banked participants (p\u3c.001). Further analyses looking at the intervening variables suggested that the combined effects of car ownership, education, race, and monthly savings targets significantly reduced the savings gap between the two groups