FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Ford Foundation awarded a $195,000 grant in 2006 and another $50,000 grant in 2007 to University of Arkansas researchers Kameri Christy-McMullin, Marcia Shobe and Yvette Murphy-Erby so they could help people with low incomes build their assets. Impressed by the researchers’ progress and effectiveness, the Ford Foundation awarded a new $250,000, two-year grant in July 2008 to help evaluate the outcomes of Individual Development Accounts for low-income individuals.  

Arkansas is considered both an innovator and a national leader in assessing the effectiveness of asset-building programs, thanks to the efforts of Christy-McMullin, an associate professor in the School of Social Work in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, and fellow researchers Murphy-Erby, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work, Shobe, director of the School of Social Work, and Shikkia Jordan, a graduate of the School of Social Work.

Christy-McMullin and her research team have been examining both the economic and social impact of Individual Development Accounts in both Arkansas and New Mexico. After completing an orientation and education program, IDA participants are eligible to receive matching funds for money they have earned at a ratio as high as 4-to-1, to be deposited in special savings accounts.

They can use the funds for a variety of purposes, such as buying a home, purchasing supplies to start a business or attending a university.

Christy-McMullin said the team has taken its findings to the next level by examining whether or not people in resource building programs also benefit from positive outcomes in areas such as improved health, decreased domestic violence, and increased social support.

Even though Arkansas consistently lags behind nationally in per-capita income, the state is a national leader in both creating and assessing asset-building programs, Christy-McMullin said.

This latest grant will enable the researchers to contact 900 participants and the 15 agencies supporting the programs to measure long-term benefits and to devise strategies for retaining participants.

“What we’ve found so far is that in general, those who enroll in an IDA program have slightly more or better resources than those who do not. We’ve also found that in Arkansas, low-income African Americans are much more likely to access an IDA program than they are public assistance programs,” said Christy-McMullin.

National policy mandates that half of the funding for asset-building programs can be leveraged by the federal government, with the remainder coming from state or private institutions.

In 2004, leaders in New Mexico learned of the researchers’ work and contacted Christy-McMullin, who was able to help them design a research study and persuade the state legislature in 2008 to double its funding for IDAs. A single mother enrolled in the program catered the celebration luncheon after the vote. Another participating in the celebration was a man who is legally blind and has developmental disabilities, but who used money he saved in an IDA to start a successful paper-shredding business.

“Lawmakers want data, though, not just feel good stories,” said Christy-McMullin.

The original Ford Foundation grant of $195,000 funded a study of 460 low-income individuals in asset-building programs to compare to similar, non-program members in order to better understand the outcomes of people receiving matching funds.

Researchers studied three groups: asset-building program members, those unassociated with the program but economically similar, and people who joined the asset-building programs but later dropped out.

In May, the Urban Institute invited Christy-McMullin to join 49 other scholars for a meeting at the Ford Foundation. Nearly half spoke about the need for including low-income individuals and families in crafting strategies to accumulate wealth. Christy-McMullin learned that no other group was conducting such rigorous research as the Arkansas team, whose work is of a much larger magnitude and time frame — nearly 10 years.

She and fellow researchers in Arkansas meet once a month to discuss the program and hone their strategies. They hope to one day create programs for abused women and for children who are graduating out of foster care but who may not have family or other support systems to help them as they move into adulthood.