Technical
Assistance
Starting an IDA Program
Building Local Capacity to Expand Individual Development Accounts
Success! The Corporation For Enterprise Development (CFED) National Conference "A Lifetime of Assets: Building Families, Communities & Economics was held on September 19-21 at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs, Phoenix, Arizona with over a 1,000 in attendance. Congratulation and Thank You CFED for putting on such a dynamic conference!
For more information on the sessions, please visit www.cfed.org
Click here for downloads from the 2005 Regional Equity Conference**
Mission: The
Assets for Arizona Institute’s mission is to expand Individual
Development Accounts and similar programs in Arizona to improve the
state’s rates of homeownership, levels of educational achievement
and rates of micro enterprise formation in both urban and rural communities.
Technical
Assistance Services: The Institute provides a full
package of technical assistance to non-profit
organizations and employers desiring to set up IDA programs. The
Institute provides customized training on managing IDAs from A
to Z. It provides standardized marketing and monitoring systems
for IDAs, a central data base management system and local program
staffing through AmeriCorps*VISTA, three key infrastructure components
of successful IDA programs.
Statewide Responsibilities: The Institute maintains a network of IDA practitioners in Arizona and is tasked with continuing practical research on the technical assistance and training needs of IDA Programs in the state. The Institute participates in crafting new statewide asset-building approaches, organizes statewide educational conferences and workshops and does multi-agency applications for federal IDA matching funds. The Institute provides administrative support to the Assets for Arizona Alliance and to fund-raising initiatives with many partners and supporters throughout the state.
Strategic Goals: Institute strategic goals include making asset development approaches central to State anti-poverty funding policy and encouraging asset building components in employers’ benefits packages for working poor families. The Institute’s work is complementary to and not duplicative of others’ efforts in anti-poverty fields. As a practitioners’ think tank, the Institute studies, publishes and promotes the measurable results of asset-building programs and pilots innovative asset-building initiatives. See www.assetsaz.org for more.
Track
Record and Partners: Mesa Community Action Network,
Inc. (“MesaCAN”), a 25-year old non-profit 501(c)(3)
Community Action Agency, has a successful IDA Program and has created
the Institute.
The Institute collaborates with two other non-profits, Neighborhood Economic
Development Corporation and NewTowN Community Development Corporation. It works
closely with the Arizona Community Foundation which raises IDA matching funds.
Institute management and most training staff are housed at the MesaCAN campus.
Other staff and researchers reside elsewhere around the State in non-profits
or at research and educational institutions.
Institute Funding: The Institute is funded by the Valley of the Sun United Way, Community Services Block Grant funds, the Arizona Community Foundation, the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, Bank of America and other private contributors.
For
more information about the
Assets for Arizona Institute
contact:
J. Fernando Castillo (480) 833-9200 ext. 111
email: fernando@mesacan.org
[ top ]