Communication Matters: A Long-Term Follow-up Study of Child Savings Account Program Participation

A Cross-Sectional Examination of Educational Expectation Among Welfare Users in an Asset Building Program

The Children's Savings Accounts (CSAs) program, an asset-building intervention, has gained increasing attention for its potential to elevate low-in families' education expectations, college enrollment, and completion. Variations in program enrollment policy can lead to different levels of program participation among vulnerable populations. This paper examines the enrollment policy of one of the oldest CSA programs and explores program participation among a financially vulnerable group-welfare users. While welfare users were 43% less likely to expect their children to attend college, those who enrolled in the CSA program were about two times more likely to expect their children to go to college than welfare users who did not participate in the program. Findings shed light on research and policies that facilitate asset-building efforts among vulnerable populations and encourage visioning CSAs a potential drive for better financial inclusion.

Embedding Financial Services in Frequented, Trusted Settings: Building on Families' Pre-existing Economic Mobility Efforts

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to understand parents'/guardians' experiences and aspirations around economic mobility and their impact on the acceptability and use of financial services embedded in frequented, trusted settings such as schools and pediatric clinics.

METHOD

We recruited 18 English-speaking guardians with at least 1 child enrolled in a school for low-income families and eligible for Internal Revenue Service-sponsored free tax preparation. Each participant completed a semistructured interview before tax filing; a subset completed follow-up interviews. We used grounded theory analysis.

RESULTS

We developed the following theoretical model based on our key thematic findings to describe the acceptability and use of financial services within the context of guardians' lived experiences and pre-existing efforts to build economic mobility: Families experience multilevel barriers to economic mobility. Despite these barriers, guardians are proactively working to build economic mobility by empowering the next generation with knowledge, skills, and assets and resiliently pursuing economic goals. As a result, guardians will accept empowering, nonjudgmental, expert, and trustworthy financial services that contribute to their existing efforts. To move from acceptance to use, financial services must be effectively publicized, accessible, and supportive.

CONCLUSION

Financial services may be more acceptable and used if they are embedded in trusted organizations and have expert, supportive staff with lived experience who empower guardians to work toward their economic goals, accessible platforms, and effective publicity. These characteristics may facilitate uptake and economic mobility. Trusted organizations serving young families can partner with financial services to test these findings and help families build economic mobility.