Providing AFI Services for People with Disabilities

There is a growing awareness among Assets for Independence (AFI) program grantees and their partner organizations that some people with disabilities, and their families, have a difficult time accessing and using Individual Development Account (IDA) services. In response to this need, the Office of Community Services (OCS) is collaborating with the Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) to sponsor the Assets for Independence Family Support 360 IDAs Initiative. Through the initiative, the AFI Resource Center provides AFI grantees and their partner organizations with training and technical assistance for providing IDA services to this important population.

AFI Family Support 360 IDAs Initiative

Three primary goals are:

• Increase the availability of AFI IDAs and other effective asset building services for people with disabilities and their families;
• Demonstrate new strategies for making AFI IDAs and other asset-building tools more accessible to people with disabilities;
• Ensure that all interested AFI grantees have access to high quality training, technical assistance, and information on this important topic.

Tasks and services for grantees:

• Training and technical assistance for all AFI grantees, their project partners, and the broader asset building community on serving people with disabilities (e.g., current policies, laws, program designs and how to improve them, and barriers that prevent people with disabilities from using IDAs or other currently available asset building resources). This will be provided through several in-person training events and conference calls and/or Web-based trainings.
  
• Sharing information and best practices through this Web site and periodic listserv notes.
  
• A new series of effective practice articles highlighting strategies, issues and opportunities.
• Support for a small number of AFI grantees that will be demonstration sites for this initiative. These AFI grantees will receive intensive training and technical assistance as they partner with organizations that are receiving ADD Family Support 360 grants to administer family centers.

These services are provided through the AFI Resource Center with assistance of the Lewin Group, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Cornell University Institute for Policy Research.

Background

This initiative is rooted in a collaboration between the OCS and the Administration on Developmental Disabilities. The OCS-supported AFI program provides grant funds and training and technical assistance to non-profit organizations and State, local and Tribal government agencies that use an asset-based strategy to help low-income individuals and families join the economic mainstream.  The primary strategy used is the IDA – special matched savings accounts where families save earned income to purchase a long-term economic asset.  After saving earned income in their IDAs and receiving matching funds for every dollar saved, participants can use their savings to buy a home, finance a small business, or pay for education.  There are currently more than 400 AFI grantees across the nation, with more than 1200 groups overall that are providing IDA services with support from the program.

The HHS Administration on Developmental Disabilities administers the Family Support 360 program that supports groups that manage family one-stop centers.  These centers assist unserved and underserved families with a member who has a developmental disability.  The one-stop centers aim to preserve, strengthen, and maintain the family unit by helping to connect family members to a range of existing resources within the human services system.  There are currently 21 Family Support 360 grantees across the nation.

More Information / Questions?

For additional information, please contact the AFI Resource Center on (202) 401-4626 or at AFIProgram@acf.hhs.gov.