Asset Building in Native Communities: New Directions for Practice, Policy and Research

Building economic security for low-income families and communities require the development of assets. Fifty-four percent of U.S. households lack sufficient assets to invest in opportunities for mobility, such as purchasing a home, starting a new business, or investing in their children's education. Low levels of assets, lack of financial stability, restricted access to higher education and difficulty in obtaining and keeping assets contributes to intergenerational poverty and hinder low-income people from mobility opportunities. Assets serve as a foundation of resources from which families and communities draw on to meet more than their basic needs. Despite growing knowledge that assets matter for low-income families, few Native communities have engaged in formal discussions of asset holdings, appropriateness of mainstream asset-building approaches, and effective strategies. A new approach for transformative change is necessary to provide communities with a foundation for building economic security.

This roundtable discussion will begin a dialogue about the need for Native communities to define financial well-being for themselves, ways that participatory research methods may be used to engage Native communities in this conversation, and the role of assets in social and economic development. Presenters will begin the session with a brief overview of the current state of research and practice on asset building in Native communities. Particular attention will be given to the historical and cultural contexts that inform how Native communities view and define assets and ways they have been systematically excluded from asset building policies throughout history. Another important aspect of this work is the method in which such information is gathered. Research efforts in Native communities has historically exploited Native people and extracted knowledge without providing opportunities for these communities to utilize the information. A second presenter will share a case example of how participatory methods were used to engage community members in the process of defining and prioritizing assets for their community. A third set of presenters will review recent evidence from studies that utilized Native definitions of assets to design asset building approaches for Native youth. Findings from these studies include attitudes regarding asset building approaches to financial well-being, facilitators and barriers to participation in asset-building programs, along with outcomes associated with participation in asset-building programs among Native families.

Our goal for this roundtable session is to stimulate discussion of ways research can inform policy and the development of initiatives that leverage assets and promote asset reclamation, asset building, and asset preservation for Native communities.