Assets and Neighboring: An Exploration into Household Assets and Efforts to be a Good Neighbor

A non-random, cross-sectional sampling procedure was utilized in this study to explore the relationship between the level of household assets and their corresponding level of neighboring. Surveys from 111 households were collected from September 1997, to April 1999, in seven Ohio counties to elucidate the relationship between the level of assets in working poor households and selected household demographic variables, and their propensity to provide various forms of community assistance over the previous month from the time of survey. Findings revealed that households 1) with more than one adult and 2) with lower levels of monthly earned income were more likely to provide community assistance to their neighbors. The implications of an asset-based social welfare policy strategy will be discussed. Introduction The theoretical model utilized in this study is Sherraden's (1991) asset-based theory of economic and social development. Sherraden is the current director of the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University, and the survey tool (obtained by permission from CSD) used for data collection is similar to the one the CSD developed for their current national evaluation of asset-based programs or Individual Development Accounts, referred to as IDAs throughout this paper. Sherraden promotes a synthesis of economic development and social welfare via long-term asset accounts aimed at accumulating savings for life goals via the establishment of matched savings accounts or IDAs for working poor individuals and households. Accumulated savings can then be converted into long-term assets in the form of home ownership, continuing education, and/or a small business. While postulating a long list of potential benefits due to asset accumulation via IDA's, this paper will focus primarily on Sherraden's hypothesis that increased levels of material and human assets are associated with higher levels of community assistance/neighboring. Numerous researchers have elucidated the relationship between the economic survival strategies of working poor households and their reliance on neighboring, support networks, and the informal economy (Edin and Lein, 1997; Parcel and Menaghan, 1997; Duncan and Brooks-Gunn, 1997; Wilson, 1996; Mingione, 1991). The plight of the working poor is of tremendous importance to our society due to the fact that nearly one in five children in America today lives in poverty and the working poor population is rapidly expanding (U.S. Census, 2000; Children's Defense Fund, 2000; Zaslow and Emig, 1997; Caputo, 1991). Social welfare researchers have challenged the efficacy of a laizze-fare capitalistic economic model which results in even greater social and economic disparity between social classes, communities, and geographic regions, even when the poor are working (Midgley, 1995; Kondrat, 1994; Estes, 1993; Smith and Wallerstein, 1992). What Sherraden (1991) proposes is a theory of asset-based welfare policy in which the poor are provided the opportunities/life chances (Darendorf, 1979), just like middle and upper-class Americans, to establish a financial stake in the American economic system via the holding of actual material/human capital assets. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are the primary social welfare policy tool advocated by Sherraden to provide a financial stakehold for the working poor. However, little research has been completed to date as to the effectiveness of IDAs as an anti-poverty strategy for working poor households. The primary research question concerning IDA implementation addressed in this paper is whether or not higher levels of asset accumulation by working poor households are associated with higher levels of community assistance/neighboring? Or, as some social researchers have observed, will IDAs (asset accumulation) actually lead to less neighboring and sense of community (Lasch, 1995; Putnam, 1994; Rohe and Stegman, 1994), leaving behind those households with the lowest levels of material capital and human assets? …