Income: Our platform

Our position: Public institutions must play a key role in educating youth and adults on the basics of personal finances and their relationship to financial well being. Social policies must also shift to include asset development as a key strategy for the reduction of poverty and movement toward financial independence.

Facts to support our position:

• When people have assets, their lives are more stable; their children tend to stay in school, have better self-esteem, and better saving habits as adults. Asset ownership is also tied to reductions in welfare dependence, bankruptcy rates, and incidents of domestic abuse.

• Metro Detroit ranks 6th among U.S. metro areas in the percentage of homes in foreclosure. One contributing factor is that over 36 percent of tri-county households today spend a third of their income on home expenses – up from 24 percent in 1999.

• Individuals must grasp the basics of personal finance to achieve economic goals. More than 30 percent of Michigan households lack a savings account.

Our strategy:

• Promote state policy changes that support asset development and annualize Individual Development Accounts (IDA).

• Support state restoration of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) funding for all local sites.

• Promote education and awareness regarding the State’s structural budget deficit

• Support the federal Saving for Working Families Act.

To learn more about United Way’s other work in Income visit www.uwsem.org.