Asset Development Strategies
for
Persons with Disabilities
Module 1 - Warm-Up and
Introduction
Module 1
•
Welcome to our training program Asset Development Strategies for
Persons with Disabilities.
•
There will be four sessions. Each session will last about two hours.
•
The purposes of the training is to help you learn more about and use
tools and strategies that will help you make good decisions about
working, saving, and building assets.
•
We will help you understand what asset building is and why it is
important for people with disabilities.
•
Each training session will help you learn about a different strategy that
will complement each other to advance your self-sufficiency, promote
choice and community participation.
Introductions
To get started, let’s go around the room and
have each person introduce himself or herself.
•Tell us your name,
•If you are currently working, and
•Something you like to do. For examples, go to
the movies, shopping, visit with friends.
Introductions
We will get to know each other better during the
next six weeks as we learn together about a new
way of thinking and action.
Asset Development Strategies
for
Persons with Disabilities
Module 1 - Overview, Purpose, and
Expected Outcomes
Module 1
•
This training program has been developed by the
National Disability Institute.
•
The National Disability Institute is a national research
and development organization with the mission to
promote income preservation and asset development
for persons with disabilities and to build healthy
financial futures for Americans with disabilities.
Setting a framework for
Asset Development Strategies
•
Passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in
1990 brought new hope and expectations about the
possibilities of full participation in the workplace and
community life for millions of individuals with
disabilities and their families.
•
The ADA law says clearly the nation’s proper goals
regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure
equality of opportunity, full participation, independent
living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals
with disabilities.
Setting a framework for
Asset Development Strategies
• Seventeen years later, great efforts have been
made to advance opportunities related to
employment and independent living. However,
we have not really focused on “economic selfsufficiency.”
Module 1
What does the term
economic self-sufficiency mean to you?
Economic Self-sufficiency
 Economic self-sufficiency is about making good decisions
about working and saving and managing a budget.
 It is setting goals to advance employment and economic
status.
 It is about building assets.
This training program will introduce you to new strategies to
advance your economic independence and become less
dependent on government benefits.
Let’s Begin
•
Today we will learn more about what are assets and
different kinds of asset building programs.
•
The next three sessions will look more closely at
specific asset building strategies and provide an
understanding of how these programs work in our
community and how they could benefit you.
Asset Development
•
The next three sessions will focus on:
o
o
o
Financial Literacy: Access to Financial Services
Earned Income Tax Credit: Free Tax Preparation Assistance
Individual Development Accounts
Asset Development Strategies
•
Module 1: Introduction and Next Steps
o
•
All the training sessions are based on the principles of selfdetermination.
Module 2: Financial Literacy and Access to Financial
Services
o
o
Ability to make informed decisions about producing income,
savings, and asset building.
Access to mainstream banks and credit unions can save you
money.
Asset Development Strategies
•
Module 3: Earned Income Tax Credit: Free Tax
Preparation Assistance
o
o
•
Tax refunds even with no tax liability if you are a low-income
worker
Free tax preparation assistance
Module 4: Individual Development Accounts
o
o
Matched savings plans
Setting an asset goal
Asset Development Strategies
•
Module 5: Microenterprise Development and Home
Ownership
o
o
•
Choice of self-employment
Home ownership as an asset building strategy
Module 6: Social Security Work Incentives
o
o
Plans for Achieving Self-Support
Combining strategies for a better economic future
Self-Determination
1.
A person has the FREEDOM to dream, to make his or her own
decisions and plan his or her own life.
2.
A person has the AUTHORITY to control how money is spent for his
or her supports.
3.
A person has the SUPPORT needed from friends, family, and other
people whom that person chooses.
4.
A person takes RESPONSIBILITY to do what he or she says he or she
will do.
5.
CONFIRMATION – the recognition that individuals themselves are a
major part of the design of their long-term services and supports.
Asset Development Strategies
•
The information being provided to you through each
training session will help you make informed decisions
about saving and asset building. Good decisions are
the result of good planning.
•
At the end of four sessions, you will have gained new
knowledge to plan and make decisions about a better
economic future, a better quality of life, and more
independence.
Asset Development
Strategies
Module 1 - Main Presentation
What do we know about people with
disabilities and poverty?
•
One out of every three adults with disabilities live in
very low income households as opposed to one of
every eight non-disabled adults (NCD 1996 Report)
•
Lack of money is a serious problem among 68% of
people with disabilities:
o
39% of people with disabilities say that the lack of financial
resources is the most serious problem they face. (NOD/Harris
Survey 2000)
What do we know about people with
disabilities and poverty?
•
Even when people with disabilities are employed, they
earn substantially less than their non-disabled peers,
roughly 72 ¢ to the dollar (NCD 1996 Report)
•
Public assistance represents 59% of the total income of
people with significant disabilities and only 8% of the
total income of people who have no disability. (Harris
Survey 2002)
•
Less than 10% of people with disabilities own their
own homes compared with 70% of Americans with no
disabilities.
Asset Poverty Varies Significantly
by Race and Gender
•
33% of all American households have
no assets or are in debt.
•
54% of Hispanic households have a similar status.
•
60% of African American households have no net
assets.
•
80% of persons with disabilities have no net assets.
•
Whether it is access to:
A quality education
o Effective transition from school to work
o Needed transportation, housing, technology or long-term
supports
o Enduring poverty and lack of economic empowerment will
diminish choices and quality of life within communities and
o Singularly diminish freedom, opportunity, and selfdetermination.
o
What is Asset Development?
• Asset Development is a series of strategies that
has the potential to help people with disabilities
improve their economic status, expand
opportunities for community participation, and
positively impact the quality of life experience.
Which of these are considered
assets?
What are Assets?
•
•
•
•
•
Money you have in the bank
Cash on hand
Securities (shares)
(retirement accounts, other
investments)
Property you own
Owner equity in a home or
business
•
•
•
•
Furniture and
appliances
Miscellaneous items
(jewelry, cars, etc.)
Whatever is owed to
you
Education level and
work experience
What Prevents People with Significant
Disabilities from Controlling Assets?
• Eligibility for many public benefits requires
individuals with disabilities to not develop
assets. You have to stay poor to remain eligible.
Examples: Social Security Benefits; Medicaid
Why is Asset Development Important to
Persons with Disabilities?
• Assets provide greater financial security and
independence
• Assets improve community participation and
quality of life
Why is Income Preservation and
Asset Development Important?
• To persons with disabilities, saving money and
developing assets will produce choices that
directly impact quality of life, especially
regarding:
mental and physical health
o positive self-concept and level of community
participation
o expectations and status with other community
stakeholders
o
• To design a roadmap out of poverty for
individuals with disabilities, there will need to
be a change in public attitudes, new
expectations in the disability community, and
new partnerships that support savings and asset
building.
Change Public Attitudes –
Three Myths
1.
People with disabilities are unable to work. - Work produces
income which is the first step towards saving and building
assets.
2.
People with disabilities have all their needs met by their
special programs. – People with disabilities want to reduce
their reliance on government benefits and have more freedom
and independence.
3.
People with disabilities can’t be expected to save and build
assets. – People with disabilities want a better economic
future. They are starting businesses and becoming
homeowners.
Assets can improve economic stability
and independence.
Change Expectations in the
Disability Community
•
Social Security and Medicaid prevent individuals with
disabilities from increasing their income and assets in
order to remain eligible for public benefits.
•
This training program will share with you tools and
strategies that can help you overcome these policy
barriers.
•
There is no single strategy or simple solution that can
provide a roadmap out of poverty and overcome
common misconceptions.
•
However, through this series of training, “Building
Assets and Promoting Choice:” you will learn about
new options to advance your economic status and
promote greater self-sufficiency.
•
There are new partnerships to be formed with
community-based groups. There are new choices to be
made that reinforce new expectations about working
and building assets.
•
We will learn about six complimentary strategies that
could change your quality of life.
Asset Development Strategies
for
Persons with Disabilities
Module 1 - American Dream Exercise
American Dream
• For millions of people in this country, the
American Dream is owning a home, or starting
and owning a business, or saving income from
work to retire with a positive quality of life.
American Dream
• If you were to improve your quality of life and
achieve the American Dream, what would it be?
• What prevents achievement of your goal?
American Dream
• Although there is no single strategy or solution
to overcome these multiple barriers, there are
new opportunities that we will learn about
together to advance greater self-sufficiency and
quality of life.
Introduction to New Tools and
Strategies
•
During the past 15 years, tools and strategies have been
developed to help people of low income save and grow
assets.
•
Disability-specific tools and strategies created by federal
policy that underutilized.
•
During the next sessions we will learn about both kinds of
tools and strategies that can be leveraged and expanded to
benefit persons with disabilities.
Three Complimentary Strategies
1. Financial Education and Access to Financial
Services
2. Utilization of The Earned Income Tax Credit
3. Individual Development Accounts
Next Steps
• Each session ends with homework assignments.
• You need to believe that the more you learn and
the more you gain knowledge, the better
informed you will be to make decisions about a
better economic future.
Making Connections in Your
Community
• The next session will be on Financial Education
and Access to Financial Services.
Checking Account
•
A checking account will help you manage your
spending and reduce your need to pay cash.
Savings Account
•
A savings account is a starting point for planning for the future.
For many individuals, saving is fun. The American culture is
about spending. We spend very little time thinking about saving
and putting money aside for building assets and a better quality
of life in the future.
Steps to Financial Independence
•
For many of us, we have not been educated about a
stepped approach to financial independence.
•
Step One: A job that produces income.
•
•
•
Step Two: Planning to increase income and build savings.
•
Step Four: Review goals and make adjustments to advance a
better economic future.
Step Three: Set asset goals and gain and sustain assets for a
better quality of life and greater independence.
•
There are strategies we will learn about that will help
achieve financial stability, security, and greater selfsufficiency.
•
Managing money and credit are critical skills to
advancing self-sufficiency. We will talk more about
these topics at our next session as well as the
importance of access to financial services.