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The Role Of Public Policy In Reducing Poverty And Expanding Economic Opportunity (pdf, 787 kb)

Helping America's poor build assets is one of the most cost - effective and sustainable improvements we can make as a society. While policymakers seeking to reduce poverty have traditionally focused on income, spending, and consumption, a new vision has steadily gained prominence in recent years, focusing on savings, investment, and asset - building policies that work in conjunction with, not instead of, traditional anti - poverty policies and programs.

The Northwest Area Foundation solicited input from CFED on how it could best influence poverty reduction through public policy. From our perspective, much of the answer lies in the policies that support an individual's ability to build and protect assets. In the sections below, we set the context with a case for assets, a description of asset disparities in the United States, and a review of the current policies that create these inequitable outcomes. CFED sees a window of opportunity for making policy change at the federal, state, and municipal levels that will reduce poverty and expand opportunity, and we conclude with an effective strategy for seizing this window of opportunity.