| Abstract: | Abstract: Asset‐building strategies have been touted as a new approach to helping low‐income families achieve economic independence. By providing incentives to save and invest in an asset—such as a home, a business, or additional education—Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) hope to help lower‐income families advance economically. Using the data collected on 21 IDA programs in North Carolina, this article addresses the characteristics of the persons served by these programs as well as the factors related to participant success and failure. The results indicate that IDA participants are different in many respects from the general population of low‐income persons. They are more likely to be single African‐American mothers with relatively high levels of education and full‐time employment. Effective case management and economic literacy training contributed to program success, whereas job loss and financial emergencies contributed to the dropout rate. The implications of these findings for expanding IDAs to a wider population are considered. |
