This video features the successful Crossroads program. Funded by William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, 36 clients from the Crossroads program participated in this special project.
OA-NV’s role was to provide “Your Money, Your Goals” financial education and individualized financial coaching and Getting Ahead courses for participants in 3 sessions.
Click the “play” button below to watch video…
Washington, D.C. – Despite an unemployment rate that has ticked downward and an overall improved economy, large numbers of Nevada families continue to struggle in low-wage jobs that don’t allow them to save for a more prosperous future, according to a new report from Prosperity Now (formerly the Corporation for Enterprise Development).
Fully 43.5% of Nevada households are liquid asset poor, meaning they have so little savings that they could not live at the poverty level for just three months if they lose a job or suffer another significant income loss, according to the 2017 Prosperity Now Scorecard (formerly the Assets & Opportunity Scorecard). A new Scorecard measure also shows that while 45.2% of households in the state did not set aside any savings for emergencies in the past year, the number is higher than the national rate of 43.7%.
Even as employment has increased, the poor quality of many jobs makes it challenging for families to meet basic expenses—and nearly impossible to save enough to move up the economic ladder. A fourth (25.4%) of Nevada jobs are in in low-wage occupations, many of which do not provide workers with a reliable stream of income. The Scorecard found that 25.2% of Nevadans experienced income volatility from month to month in the past year, which studies show most often results from irregular job schedules.
Nevada households of color face even greater obstacles. They are nearly twice as likely to live below the poverty line as white households (19.2% compared to 10.7%) and much less likely to own a home or other assets that boost long-term financial stability. Less than half of households of color (42.4%) in the state own homes, compared to 61.1% of white, non-Hispanic households.
“Beyond providing a cushion to get families through emergencies, increased savings and wealth allow families to invest in their futures and gain ground for future generations,” said Andrea Levere, president of Prosperity Now. “It’s clear that far too many people are stuck in economic limbo. They may be getting by, but they aren’t getting ahead.”
Published annually, the Prosperity Now Scorecard offers the most comprehensive look available at households’ ability to save and build wealth, stay out of poverty and create a more prosperous This year’s Scorecard assesses the 50 states and District of Columbia on 60 outcome measures spanning five issue areas: Financial Assets & Income, Businesses & Jobs, Homeownership & Housing, Health Care and Education. Vermont is ranked number one in overall outcomes, while Mississippi is dead last compared with the other 49 states and the District of Columbia.
Nevada’s 46th-place outcome ranking increased slightly from last year’s 48th-place ranking. The Scorecard grades states on their progress in the five key outcome areas, and Nevada received a “D” in every area except Health Care, where it earned a “C”. The “D” received in Financial Assets & Income largely reflects the highest rate of underbanked households in the country; 27.3% of Nevada households rely on alternative methods of saving and borrowing, such as payday loans and check- cashing services. The state also earned a “D” in Homeownership & Housing, driven by the highest rate of high-cost mortgage loans statewide (16.3%). In the area of Education, a rank of 49th for both rates of early childhood education enrollment (34.3%) and high school graduation (71.3%) dragged Nevada’s score down to a “D”; however, the state also has the third-lowest rate of college graduates with debt (47%) in the country.
Additionally, the Scorecard evaluates 53 different policy measures to determine how well states are addressing the challenges facing their residents. Nevada took one step forward by ensuring that unemployment benefits are loaded onto a low-fee pre-paid card and lost ground by revoking direct lending to first-time homebuyers. The pathway to prosperity is unclear for Nevadans given that the state has passed only 4 of the 20 recommended policies in Financial Assets & Income and 1 of 9 in Education.
“While our state moved up from 48th to 46th in our outcome rank from the previous Scorecard, we clearly have more work to ensure that all families are on track toward financial prosperity. We look forward to continued partnership with our state policy makers,” Lynne Keller, Executive Director of Opportunity Alliance Nevada, Prosperity Now Community Champion.
The Prosperity Now Scorecard found that many of the challenges facing individual states are evident at the national level as well. Among the Scorecard’s key national findings:
“While there are positive signs in our economy and in some of the data measured by the Scorecard, it’s clear we need to do much more. Good policy at the state and federal levels can have an enormous impact on the ability of families to achieve financial stability and long-term prosperity,” said Solana Rice, Director of State and Local Policy for Prosperity Now.
To read an analysis of key findings from the 2017 Prosperity Now Scorecard, click here.
Airing on July 20, 2017, this special Nevada Newsmakers interview with Sam Shad focuses on financial security and how businesses can help their employees. It features special guests and OAN board members:
Host: Sam Shad
Guests: Lynne E. Keller, Executive Director, Opportunity Alliance Nevada
Amy Nelson, Opportunity Alliance Nevada
Nancy Brown, Opportunity Alliance Nevada
Income inequality is bad. Wealth inequality is worse. More than half (55.6 percent) of all Nevadans are financially insecure, according to a new report by Prosperity Now. That means that Nevada’s households do not have enough money in savings to subsist at the poverty level for 3 months in the absence of income.
Wealth is important because it equals opportunity. Wealth is the down payment on your first home. It’s having enough saved to send your kids to college without tapping out your retirement fund. It’s knowing that your bank account can help you weather a rainy day. Whether we have a lot or a little, wealth is about opportunity — and it is increasingly distributed unfairly.
The wealthiest 0.1 percent of Americans today own about as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent of Americans combined. Our “upside-down” federal tax system perpetuates the problem. A typical millionaire in the top 0.1 percent gets tens of thousands of dollars every year from tax deductions, credits, deferrals and other lopsided tax programs. A typical working family gets little or nothing at all. These tax programs could be expanding financial security, boosting retirement security, or increasing home ownership and college savings for working class families. Instead, they are helping the richest households get even richer.
This may seem like an issue that’s just too big to manage. But that’s not the case. Nevada has some homegrown ideas that have worked here and could work for the rest of the country. This is especially true in the area of college savings. Here’s what Nevada did: We started College Kickstart. Now every child entering a public school kindergarten in the state gets a college savings account with a $50 initial deposit. And every working family gets additional support to add to their own savings. These accounts grow with accruing interest and deposits right up until the child is college-ready. This is how we start reversing wealth inequality in this country.
This isn’t just pie-in-the-sky thinking. Research shows that low- and moderate-income students with less than $500 in an account are three times more likely to enroll in college and four times more likely to graduate. And if we accomplish this by turning those upside down tax programs right-side up, it would also mean an historic decrease in inequality.
Nevadans can’t do this on our own. The nationwide problems of growing inequality and stagnating opportunity demand nationwide solutions. But Nevada can point the way with our own homegrown successes. I hope the presidential wannabes took a careful look at what we’ve accomplished here. I hope they tell us how they intend to supercharge College Kickstart and take it nationwide. I hope they’ll take a stand to turn these pro-inequality, anti-opportunity tax programs right-side up.
Nancy E. Brown is President of Opportunity Alliance Nevada.
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal
“Nevadans expect their legislators to stand up for their values while finding common ground and reaching across the aisle for the good of this state,” Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, D-Las Vegas, said in a statement in the wee hours Monday. “I’m proud that we’ve been able to work in a bipartisan fashion to close out this session with these important pieces of legislation.”
After the session ended, the two-term Republican governor praised accomplishments made during the 120-day session and called the process a “good compromise” while expressing disappointment that ESAs failed. “We fought hard and I’m as disappointed as anybody, and it’s just one of those things that didn’t work out,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we are still going to be able to have a $20 million investment that goes toward those Opportunity Scholarships.” He added, “At the end of the day, it’s not about money. It’s about kids and now these kids — more kids in our state — will have access to the school of their choice.”
“Personally for me it’s a great session,” Sandoval said.
