Account holders also get training in personal finance and connect with other savers in peer groups. Many of them have never even had a bank account before. The Corporation for Enterprise Development, a nonprofit organization in Washington, is spearheading Downpayments on the American Dream in a dozen metropolitan and rural areas around the country. Altogether, there are approximately 200 IDA programs nationwide, most of them launched in the last three or four years, according to the development group. The savings are typically earmarked for home purchases, business start-ups and education or job training.
Participants can withdraw their own money for other reasons, but they lose the match if they do so.
Though still considered experimental, the early signs of IDA success have generated interest in Washington. Before the president's address, his aides had received some early results from Sherraden and his team at work on the American Dream evaluation. The president's Universal Savings Accounts would match savings by both poor and middle-class people for retirement, medical emergencies and college education. Other office-holders and candidates are endorsing the grassroots projects and proposing ways to enlarge the IDA movement through public spending and tax credits. Texas Governor George W. Bush has made IDAs part of his Republican presidential platform, and a bipartisan group of legislators has unveiled a similar proposal in Congress.