Asset Building Opportunities: A Discussion about Lessons Learned

More than 60 people representing nonprofits, banks, a credit union, housing agencies, government agencies, small business and universities gathered April 3, 2007, at the United Way of Greater St. Louis for "Asset Building Opportunities: A Discussion about Lessons Learned."

St. Louis already has a strong base of organizations that share a common goal of wealth building for low- to moderate-income populations. The seminar featured local community experts within the asset building field who highlighted successes, identified gaps and shared lessons learned.

The meeting featured three presenters: Gena Gunn from the Center for Social Development at Washington University, Bob Gaffner from the Gateway Earned Income Tax Credit Community Coalition, and Cassandra Kaufman from the Community Investment Division of United Way of Greater St. Louis. Gunn, Gaffner and Kaufman concurred that community-based partnerships are great resources that individuals and organizations can become involved with to provide the building blocks toward client self-sufficiency.

The seminar also included two panels. The first panel focused on home improvement loans, foreclosure prevention and place-based asset building. Key points shared included:

• “It’s okay not to be all things to all people. Stick to your expertise, i.e., what you know how to do well.” (Jeannine Dunnegan Larm, Community Development Corp., UMB BANK)
• “The sub-prime market does have its place. The key to managing that process is that someone needs to provide them [consumers] with education, education, education.” (Maurice Washington, Better Family Life)
• “Place-based asset building is an evolution, not a replacement of asset building.” (Chris Krehmeyer, Beyond Housing)
  

The second panel described alternate financial products that target the unbanked and underserved. Panelists were David Barton of Gateway Metro Credit Union, Kathy Siddens of U.S. Bank, Terry Seipp of Southwest Bank and Suzanne Gellman from the University of Missouri Extension. Some of these alternate products included the Federal Reserve's Directo A México ACH Service, stored value VISA cards, consumer friendly payday loans, "safe accounts," second-chance banking, credit builder loans and the Get Checking program.

Benefits gained by these product offerings include access to those shut out from traditional services, an increase in services to underserved and unbanked communities, diversification and provision of a new income stream, an avenue to help clients build credit and the ability to reach more nonprofits and financial institution partners.

The seminar ended with small group discussions followed by a large group discussion under the direction of Margaret Sherraden, professor of social work at the University of Missouri - St. Louis and research professor at the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. Specific questions addressed included:

• What are the interests?
• What are the needs/gaps?
• If we had an ongoing effort, what would it look like?

The conversations after the discussions identified some commonalities, such as minimizing predatory lending through prevention, more collaborative community partnerships among nonprofits, agencies and financial institutions, a central place for informational resources, and ongoing financial education. Overall, participants agreed that while St. Louis already has some resources in place, organizations will continue to network and share our resources.

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