The 2007-2008 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard contains evidence that even profound and enduring ownership patterns can change and change fast.  In the two years since the release of the 2005 Scorecard, median net worth jumped 25.8% nationwide, while it jumped 76.7%% for women and more than doubled for  minorities.  Most of these gains have come as a result of increasing homeownership and home values, and are therefore at risk that as interest rates rise and grace periods end, foreclosure rates will also rise.  The results underscore the efficacy of housing finance and credit innovation and the need for policing and reigning-in predatory lending.

Yet, the most important message of the 2007-2008 Scorecard, like its two predecessors, is the disparity in asset ownership – and, consequently, economic opportunity—among states, and by race, gender and income. 

• Net Worth - Median net worth in the US in 2004 was $65,150, but minorities had only 13 cents for each dollar their white fellow citizens did – largely the result of past government policy. 
• College Attainment - Seventy-two percent of Americans lacked the college attainment necessary today for a living wage income, but African Americans are nearly half as likely to have a college education as their white counterparts. 
• Asset Poverty - One fifth of the population does not possess enough belongings to survive 3 months without a job at the poverty line; more than half the population lacks sufficient liquid assets to put a downpayment on a home, invest in two-years at a community college or start a business. 
• Homeownership - 69% of Americans own their own homes – a determinant not only of financial stability, but future outlook and community commitment-- but less than half of minority families do (48.9%). 
• Health Care - Health insurance coverage from employers dropped another percentage point since the last Scorecard two years ago, to 63.2%, while medical debt remains a chief cause of bankruptcy. 

the way forward

The Scorecard provides the most comprehensive assessment of financial security, business development, homeownership, healthcare and education assets of the states – by state, race, gender, income – available.  In this context it offers a particularly strategic view of economic drivers and of the policies that can accelerate and spread asset-building and economic opportunity. 

Perhaps the greatest promise of the Scorecard is its specification of the kinds of policies states are using to build assets and opportunity within their borders, and for the first time, its focus on 12 critical policies which span asset classes, protection as well as accumulation, have proved their effectiveness and can grow to the scale of the challenge. 

The twelve include:

• Asset Limits for Public Benefit Programs
• Curbing Predatory Lending
• Expanded Coverage for Medicaid and SCHIP
• Housing Trust Fund
• Incentives for College Savings
• Microenterprise Support
• School Spending Fairness
• State Earned Income Tax Credit
• State Supported Preschool
• Support for Community Development Lenders
• Support for IDA Programs
• Tax Expenditure Report

While the tendency may be to focus on the “haves” and the “have nots” this Scorecard’s data is about all Americans, along with policies that impact millions of lives at all economic levels. Just as savings and assets create futures for families, so we hope the Scorecard provides a compass for building states’ economic futures.