Published annually, the Corporation for Enterprise Development's (CFED) Assets and Opportunity Scorecard offers the most comprehensive look at Americans' ability to save and build wealth, stay out of poverty, and create a more prosperous future.  The 2016 Scorecard assessed all fifty states and the District of Columbia on sixty-one outcome measures spanning five issue areas: Financial Assets and Income, Businesses and Jobs, Housing and Homeownership, Health Care, and Education.  The research found that state policies are doing little to improve Hoosiers' financial security.  Indiana received a "C" in all five outcome categories and ranked 30th overall.  Indiana came in at 32nd place in the Financial Assets and Income category.  Indeed, forty-three percent of Indiana's households are locked into a "new normal" of perpetual financial insecurity; unable to build the savings needed to last three months in the event of an emergency, and fourteen percent of households' total income is below the poverty threshold.

Statistics like these are just one of the reasons Prosperity Indiana partnered with AmeriCorps, a national service program funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and Serve Indiana. 

AmeriCorps is dedicated to creating economic opportunity focused on financial well-being for disadvantaged individuals and families.  Community organizations across the country are learning about specific interventions to address the housing, financial literacy, and employment needs of low-income populations.

For more than fifty years, national service has proven to be a catalyst when combined with community-based economic opportunity resources.  Our programs boost initiatives that provide financial education, tax preparation services, consumer counseling, connection with community services or benefits, housing construction and repair, and job training and placement programs.  

Stay tuned to find out how your organization can utilize AmeriCorps to get things done to build financial security and economic opportunity in your community!