By 2003, the savings and asset building field had achieved critical research and policy successes. However, some challenges it faced were the lack of a substantial presence of organizations of color in the field and the absence of experts of color at decision-making tables.
Over the course of 11 years, a strategy was developed within the Ford Foundation to gain an understanding of the knowledge and perspective of communities of color about saving and wealth building and to then include this perspective within the asset building field. This resource provides a social history of the work undertaken to create and sustain this initiative.
This resource was part of the 2017 AFN Grantmaker Conference which framed key issues, and elevated promising approaches and timely, relevant research to support strategic and impactful investments. This conference aimed to foster peer-to-peer conversations to help grantmakers bring the desired short and long-term outcomes as reflected in the theme Accelerating Ideas into Action. View all 2017 conference resources.
