The Fed found that while the net worth of the typical family has risen substantially in recent years, it has actually dropped substantially for low-income families. The rate of home ownership among low-income families has dropped as well. IDAs are the unfinished business of the Community Renewal and New Markets Empowerment initiatives which became law in December of 2000 and will increase job opportunities and renew hope in what have been hopeless places. But to sustain this hope, we must provide opportunities for individuals and families to build tangible assets and acquire stable wealth. Our legislation is aimed at fixing our nation's growing gap in asset ownership, which keeps millions of low-income workers from achieving the American dream.
Most public attention focuses on our growing income gap.
But the reality is that the income gap is a symptom of a larger, more complicated problem. We believe that the marketplace can provide such opportunity. In return, participants take an economic literacy course and commit to using their savings to buy a home, upgrade their education or to start a business. Thousands of people are actively saving today through IDA programs in about 250 neighborhoods nationwide. While the growth of IDAs has been encouraging, access to IDA programs is still limited and scattered across the nation.