Asset building

Building more affordable housing units in the metros that are centers of innovation will increase demand for the wares that fill houses, and increase productivity.

A brief to help state and local agencies identify opportunities to align and leverage policies, programs, and funding across the three laws to support the education-to-workforce pipeline; a workbook to facilitate cross-agency conversations to identify and plan for alignment opportunities across ESSA

Resources from Ascend at The Aspen Institute

Federal safety net programs are intended to protect the most vulnerable Americans—such as the elderly, people with severe disabilities and young children.

Housing is at the epicenter of all opportunities and outcomes. It is the first rung on the ladder to economic opportunity, and a person’s access to opportunity is linked with that of their community.

Asset-based community development (ABCD) is a large and growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of community development, social capital, and health and well-being.

Because mental health conditions can negatively affect employment, people with these conditions make up a large share of federal disability program participants.

The employment social enterprise (ESE) model can provide an opportunity to create a financially viable business that helps individuals with employment barriers become integrated into the labor force. This research studied eight ESEs.

The venture is a small yet innovative player in a growing number of nonprofits developing new models for work force training. Their overarching goal is upward mobility for low-income Americans and the two-thirds of workers without four-year college degrees.

We beef up law enforcement to attack crime, devote more funding to try and improve inadequate schools and tackle health disparities by getting more people to the doctor. But what if Baltimore could solve all of its persistent social problems by getting rid of poverty?