The 2009-2010 Assets &

Opportunity Scorecard and

Policy Campaign
David Blatt
Director of Policy, Oklahoma Policy Institute
dblatt@okpolicy.org
(918)859-8747
Assets & Opportunity Scorecard
 Partnership between CFED
(Corporation for Enterprise
Development), Oklahoma Policy
Institute, Oklahoma Asset Building
Coalition
 Released September 2009

About the Scorecard & Campaign 2

Assets & Opportunity Scorecard
 Most comprehensive tool
measuring ownership and financial
security at state level
 Provides assessment of how well
states support efforts of residents
to build and protect their assets
 Focus on assets is essential for
lower-income Americans to enter
the economic mainstream and build
wealth

About the Scorecard & Campaign 3

Why Assets?
 Assets matter economically, socially and psychologically
 Asset poverty rates and higher than income poverty and
wealth disparities are greater than income disparities
 Assets help to increase:
 Household economic stability
 Educational attainment
 Economic mobility
 Focus Americans on long-term savings, investment and
economic stability

About the Scorecard & Campaign

Assets & Opportunity Scorecard
 Covers performance and policy priorities in five Issue Areas
1. Financial Assets & Income
2. Businesses & Jobs
3. Housing & Homeownership
4. Health Care
5. Education
 Framework underscores need to integrate asset
development, asset protection and social insurance to
advance financial security for all Americans
 Brings stakeholders across a diverse set of issues to work
together

About the Scorecard & Campaign 5

Assets & Opportunity Scorecard
 58 outcome measures; most recent data available as of April 2009
 Outcome measures describe how families are faring;
 34 policy measures; states rated on 12 policy priorities; data current
as of June 2009; also data on 22 additional policies; most recent data
available from published sources
 Policy measures describe what states can do
 Policy priority selection criteria
 Reflect a comprehensive financial security and opportunity
agenda
 Ambitious, yet achievable – all well-tested on the ground and
vetted in state houses
 Easily understandable by media and legislators
 Relevant in today’s economy

About the Scorecard & Campaign 6

 Policy Priorities
1. Lifting asset limits in public
benefit programs
2. State IDA program support
3. State Earned Income Tax
Credit
4. Payday lending protections
5. State microenterprise
support
6. Predatory mortgage
lending protections
7. Housing trust fund
8. First-time homebuyer
assistance
9. Access to health
insurance
10. Early childhood
education
11. Access to quality K-12
education
12. College savings
incentives

About the Scorecard & Campaign 7

Assets Across America
Even before the recession hit, overall increases in net worth
obscured the rising financial insecurity many were facing
 Although household net worth rose to $88,803, median net worth fell
for the 40% of U.S. households earning less than $37,000 per year
 12.3% of Americans have incomes below the poverty threshold
 22.5% of Americans live in asset poverty; rate for households with
children is 27.2%
 More than 22% of jobs are in occupations that pay a median wage
lower than the poverty threshold for a family of 4
 For every dollar held by a household in the top 20% by income,
households in the bottom 20% had 2 cents
 Credit card debt rose to $2,960—up 64% between 2006 and 2008
 Student debt for college grads averaged more than $20,000

National Overview 8
Assets Across America
Significant and enduring racial disparities in asset
ownership with minorities being:
 Twice as likely to be asset poor (37.2% vs. 16.4%)
 Three times as likely to have a high-cost mortgage loan
 Much less likely to own a home or have a college degree:
 71.5% of white Americans own their homes, only 48% of minorities
do so
 One in five minority Americans have a four-year college degree
compared to one in three white Americans

National Overview 9
Assessing States
Grade Distribution
 Outcome Grades
Grade Rank
 Relative assessment
based on ranked A 1-10
outcome measures B 11-20
 Distributed on a curve C 21-36
(see right) D 37-46
F 47-51

 Policy Ratings Policy Ratings

 Based on assessment All criteria met
against fixed criteria for
what constitutes strong Most criteria met
policy Some criteria met
Few criteria met
No criteria met

Comparative State Analysis 10

 State Grades

Comparative State Analysis 11

Oklahoma State Profile
Overall Grade: C
Index Grade
Financial Assets & Income C
Businesses & Jobs C
Housing & B
Homeownership
Health Care C
Education C

State-Specific Findings 12
Financial Assets & Income: C
 The highest income households had 45 times the net worth of the lowest
($301,000 vs. $6,697)
 22.5% of households are asset poor, 14.3% live in extreme asset poverty
 African-American households had 10 cents and Latino households had 15
cents in wealth for every dollar held by white households
 Female-headed households had 83 cents for every dollar in a male-headed
household
Measure Oklahoma Rank Nat’l
Asset Poverty 22.7% 30 22.5%

Asset Poverty by Race 2.7x 25 2.3x

Asset Poverty by Gender 1.3x 12 1.2x

Extreme Asset Poverty 12.0% 13 14.3%

Income Poverty 15.5% 44 12.3%

State-Specific Findings 13
Financial Assets & Income Policies

State Earned Lifting Asset State IDA Payday

Income Tax Limits in Program Lending
Credit Public Benefit Support Protections
(OK: Some) Programs (OK: None) (OK: None)
(OK: Strong)
Number of states with:
Very Strong policy, but Some policy, but Minimal No policy
strong some room for much room for policy in in place
policy improvement improvement place

State-Specific Findings 14
Businesses & Jobs: C
 More than 22% of jobs in this country are in occupations that pay a
median wage that is below the poverty threshold
 Nationally, 47.4% of workers participate in an employer-sponsored
retirement plan
 Small business ownership runs at 17.7 businesses per 100 workers;
microenterprise ownership is at 16.5 businesses per 100 workers

Measure Oklahoma Rank Nat’l

Average Annual Pay $39,954 24 $44,458

Low-Wage Jobs 32.2% 41 22.2%

Retirement Plan Participation 50.2% 24 47.4%

Small Business Ownership Rate 19.1% 9 17.7%

Microenterprise Ownership Rate 17.8% 9 16.5%

State-Specific Findings 15
 Businesses & Jobs Policies

State
Microenterprise
Support
(OK: Some)
Number of states with:
Very Strong policy, but Some policy, but Minimal No policy
strong some room for much room for policy in in place
policy improvement improvement place

State-Specific Findings 16
Housing & Homeownership: B
 The national homeownership rate fell 5% since the 2007-2008
Scorecard, from 69% to 64%
 48% of minorities own their own homes, compared to 71.5% of whites
 Nearly 90% of the highest income households own homes, almost
triple the 32.6% homeownership rate among households in the lowest
income bracket.
 National foreclosure rates increased more than 200% since last
Scorecard and continue to rise

Measure Oklahoma Rank Nat’l

Homeownership Rate 64.0% 37 64.2%

Affordability of Homes 2.2x 2 3.5x

Foreclosure Rate 2.1% 33 3.0%

High-Cost Mortgage Loans 22.7% 48 17.5%

State-Specific Findings 17
Housing & Homeownership Policies

Predatory First-time Housing Trust

Mortgage Homebuyer Fund
Lending Assistance
(OK: Minimal)
Protections (OK: Some)
(OK: None)
Number of states with:
Very Strong policy, but Some policy, but Minimal No policy
strong some room for much room for policy in in place
policy improvement improvement place

State-Specific Findings 18
Health Insurance: C
 17% of non-elderly Americans do not have health insurance
 Low-income individuals are uninsured at a rate almost 4 times higher than
those with incomes above 200% of the federal poverty line
 The number of uninsured low-income parents has risen to 37.2% from
36% in the 2007-2008 Scorecard.
 Insured employees pay a quarter of the cost of their family’s premium, and
families paid an additional 19% of medical expenses out-of-pocket
Measure Oklahoma Rank Nat’l
Uninsured Rate under age 65 21.2% 45 17.2%

Uninsured Low-Income Parents 43.2% 45 37.2%

Employers Offering Health Insurance 51.3% 34 55.8%

Employees Insured by Employer 55.0% 44 60.9%

Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenses 19.4% 19 19.0%

State-Specific Findings 19
 Health Insurance Policies

Access to
Health
Insurance
(OK: Strong)

Number of states with:

Very Strong policy, but Some policy, but Minimal No policy
strong some room for much room for policy in in place
policy improvement improvement place

State-Specific Findings 20
Education: C
 Only 31% of 8th graders are proficient in math and 29.2% are proficient
in reading
 Racial disparities in college attainment rates persist nationally and in
every state.; 33.4% of whites in the United States have a college degree,
compared with only 22% of minorities
 Average debt of a college graduate exceeds $20,000
Measure Oklahoma Rank Nat’l
Math Proficiency: 8th Grade 21.3% 44 31.0%

Reading Proficiency: 8th Grade 26.1% 37 29.2%

High School Degree 87.8% 34 87.6%

Four-Year College Degree 24.6% 42 29.9%

College Graduates with Debt 51.7% 11 59.0%

Average College Graduation Debt $18,597 19 $20,098

State-Specific Findings 21
 Education Policies

Early Childhood Access to College Savings

Education Quality K-12 Incentives
(OK: Very Strong) Education (OK: None)
(OK: Minimal)

Number of states with:

Very Strong policy, but Some policy, but Minimal No policy
strong some room for much room for policy in in place
policy improvement improvement place

State-Specific Findings 22
Number of Policy Priorities Acted on by States

Comparative State Analysis 23

State Policy Priority Adoption, June 2009

Oklahoma

Comparative State Analysis 24

OK Policy Asset Building Agenda
 529 College Savings Programs: Waive or lower the initial
deposit and offer a public match or tax credit for low-income
families
 Health Insurance: Expand Insure Oklahoma; increased
outreach to cover uninsured whoa re already eligible for
coverage
 Financial Services: Lower the cost and frequency of payday
loans
 Asset Tests: Eliminate the asset test in the TANF (Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families) program
 Taxes: Expand tax credits for which low- and moderate-
income households are eligible

25
 Scorecard Campaign & Resources
 State profiles
 Comprehensive data, rankings & policy ratings; recommendations for action
 Policy briefs for 12 policy priorities
 Why policy matters; what states can do; elements of a strong policy
 Resource guides for 12 policy priorities
 Additional data & resources; state precedents; strategy
 At-a-glance state policy chart
 Policy ratings on all 12 Policy Priorities for all 50 states and DC
 Special Reports
 Report on Child Asset Poverty in early 2010

Using the Scorecard 26

 Scorecard Campaign & Resources

 Website: http://scorecard.cfed.org
All data; trend indicators; guide to sub-state analysis; and more …

 Oklahoma Scorecard Homepage: http://okpolicy.org/assets-and-

opportunity-scorecard

 Monthly state policy updates: scorecardpolicy@cfed.org

 Federal policy updates & alerts www.cfed.org/go/advocacy

 Oklahoma Asset Building Coalition: Steven.Shepelwich@kc.frb.org

Using the Scorecard 27

Contact
David Blatt
Director of Policy
Oklahoma Policy Institute
dblatt@okpolicy.org
918-859-8747

Using the Scorecard 28