FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- University of Arkansas researchers have been awarded a two-year Ford Foundation grant to continue their study of low-income individuals in asset-building programs. Previous findings submitted to the Arkansas Legislature and the division of Health and Human Services have prompted a commitment to statewide implementation of the asset program.

Kameri Christy-McMullin, a professor in the School of Social Work, heads a research team currently examining the economic and social impact of Individual Development Accounts. After completing an orientation and education program, IDA participants are eligible to receive matched funds at a ratio as high as 4-to-1 to be deposited in savings accounts.

“We’ve found that not only are individuals involved in these programs able to save and accumulate assets, a statistically significant number of them are also keeping their homes, keeping their small businesses, and pursuing higher education,” said Christy-McMullin. “We plan to take our findings to the next level and examine whether or not people in resource building programs also benefit from positive outcomes in areas such as health, domestic violence, self-efficacy and social support.”

Others involved in the project include: Yvette Murphy, a professor in the School of Social Work, Marcia Shobe of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and Shikkia Jordan, a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas.

The project is being conducted concurrently with IDA programs in Arkansas and New Mexico.

Arkansas, which consistently lags behind nationally in per-capita income, is a national leader in asset-building implementation and research, Christy-McMullin said. Currently, IDAs are available in a third of the state’s counties. However, many areas, such as Springdale, have had to place interested parties onto waiting lists.

“Just because you qualify, it doesn’t mean that you can join a program,” said Christy-McMullin. “There are a lot of people that could benefit, but there’s simply not enough funding.”  Currently, national policy mandates that half of the funding for asset-building programs can be leveraged by the federal government — the remainder must come from state or private institutions.

The Ford Foundation grant of $195,000 over two years will fund a longitudinal study of low-income individuals involved in asset-building programs and then contrasts them against similar, non-program members in order to better understand the outcomes of matched-fund routines.

“There will ultimately be three groups in consideration — asset-building program members, those who are unassociated with the program but economically similar, and also people who joined the asset-building programs but later dropped out,” Christy-McMullin said.

“Some of the criticism has been that people who join these programs might have more resources or motivation and that’s why they’re more successful,” said Christy-McMullin. “We want to compare them to these other two groups to see how different they are and how much of their success can be attributed to the programs.”

Consideration will be given to the assets that members have when they enroll, what they’re able to accumulate during the program, and also the retention of those accumulated resources after graduation from the assistance groups.

Christy-McMullin is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.