From the Guest Editor

Dear Community Partners and Friends,

The start of autumn this month means that leaves are beginning to fall so that new ones can emerge in the spring. I can’t help but think about how this is similar to what is happening at Prosperity Now as our organization transitions into new leadership that will take us into the future. Like trees, however, our roots will remain firmly anchored even as our foliage changes.

Our relationships with partners in the field is one of the most essential components of these roots. These partners share our vision and help ground our work in what is happening within the communities we serve. They inspire us every day to create tools, compile data and develop pathways to make taking action and igniting systems change easier.

One key group of partners is our 12-person Community Steering Committee—a diverse body of leaders from across the country that help advise our work with the 23,000-person Prosperity Now Community. Each year, we gather to explore pressing topics facing our work with the field. This year, we discussed:

How can we better match our federal policy priorities with the priorities of our field?
Are Prosperity Now’s main resources still bringing value to the field? How can we improve them and stay relevant for the Community?
What is Prosperity Now’s role as an intermediary in vetting FinTech products for our Community?
In order to address the Racial Wealth Divide, how can we begin to address where power is held in the asset building field, particularly at decision-making tables in local communities?
Reflecting on two years of the Community Champion role—how is the role working and is there anything we’d want to change?

We’re currently working through next steps on each of these discussions from the meeting and we’re excited about the future of this work with you, our Community members. If you have thoughts on any of these topics, feel free to share them with us at [email protected]. Thank you for continuing on this journey with us—and for showing up every day to make sure prosperity is in reach for all.

In Partnership,

Fran Rosebush Baylor
Director of Field Engagement, Prosperity Now

P.S. If you have items you’d like to see featured in future Community Bulletins, share them with us at [email protected].

Highlights

Nurse-Family Partnership Program in Dallas Weaves Together Health and Wealth

When Prosperity Now launched the Health and Wealth Network this past summer, we knew the topic was a growing area of interest due to the ever increasing research about the social determinants of health and what we’ve been hearing from partners like you. Many of our Community members have been paving the way for this integrated field of health and wealth, including Community Champion WiNGS in Dallas, TX who created a program to connect first-time mothers with financial coaching services. In order to lift up and share more about their work, we spoke with Ramell Grant, Director of the Nurse-Family Partnership Program at WiNGS. Read More

Hawaiian Coalition Comes Together to Address Housing Crisis

Over the past few years, 93 state, local, and tribal coalitions have partnered with us as Community Champions—our coalition partners who are working to advance economic opportunity with and for their communities. One coalition striving to make that difference is in Hawaii and its partners are comprised of Hawaiian Community Assets, Hawai’i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice and the Hawai’i Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development. In Hawaii, there is a housing affordability crisis and this coalition has brought together these three organizations to find ways to take on this challenge together. Read more

Community Steering Committee Reflects on Two Years of the Prosperity Now Community and What Comes Next

Every summer, the Prosperity Now Community Steering Committee meets in-person for two days in Washington, DC to advise on our programmatic, advocacy and networking opportunities with the asset building and financial capability field. The 2019 meeting, which happened in July, was our most productive meeting yet! We tackled how we better integrate Prosperity Now’s advocacy priorities with the field’s, making our resources more digestible, how we improve the role of Community Champions and how we can start addressing power and equity in the field. Read More

Resources from Across the Community

Building a Bridge to Credit Visibility | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
This report highlights the key takeaways from the Bureau’s first fair lending Symposium in which they discussed the issues of access to credit.

Financial Coaching Census 2019 | Asset Funders Network
This brief explores the evolution of financial coaching, identifies key funding strategies and describes common challenges in the field.

3 Ways to Improve the Outcomes for African Americans in the Rural South | Center for American Progress
The brief pushes for policymakers to broaden their scope beyond African American’s living in urban and suburban areas and evolve their policies to uplift those in the rural South as well.

Unlocking Assets: Building Women’s Wealth Through Business Ownership | Asset Funders Network
This report highlights the gender wealth gap and describes how business ownership and investment can address it.

Spreading Fintech Solutions into New Crucial Sector | Financial Health Network
This report shares the findings and lessons learned from the Financial Solution’s Lab cohort of 8 fintech companies.

Designing Children’s Savings Account Programs with an Equity Lens | Prosperity Now
This report provides a framework for how CSA programs can be designed and implemented with equity in mind.

Opportunities and Events

Opportunities

The Credit Builders Alliance Training Institute is hosting Credit as an Asset (CAAA) training session. This is a six-week session designed to help non-profit organizations and financial capability professionals learn about the credit industry and share best practices to building credit. The sessions begin on September 30th 2019. Register Here

Events

Pathways to Prosperity Conference | The Collaborative | Raleigh, NC | October 29 – 30, 2019

RE: Conference 2019 | Neighborhood Partnerships | Salem, OR | October 29 – 30, 2019

Midwest Asset Building Conference | Detroit, MI | November 13-14, 2019

Homes Within Reach Conference | Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania | Harrisburg, PA | November 18 – 29, 2019

I’M HOME Conference | Prosperity Now | Portland, OR | November 20, 2019

Policy Updates

American Opportunities Accounts Act
Commonly referred to as “baby bonds”, Senate Bill 3766, was reintroduced by U.S. Senator Cory Booker and introduced into the House by Ayanna Pressley. This bill would grant every child born in the United States an American Opportunity Account starting with $1,000. Learn more about the bill in our blog post. Read more

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed new rules that would end automatic eligibility for people already receiving government assistance and limit access for households with savings and other assets, potentially removing 3 million Americans off food stamp assistance. Learn more about it in our blog post.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Oregon passed HB 2164, which renewed the state’s EITC until 2026. The bill also increased the tax credit from 11% to 12% for individuals with dependent children three years older or younger and increased the credit from 8% to 9% for all other eligible taxpayers.

Manufactured Housing
Delaware passed HB 45 which adds a requirement for landlords of manufactured homes to provide a receipt within 3 days if rent is paid in cash. This protects renters form foul claims of late rent and future forced evictions. Read more