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What is asset building?

Assets matter.

They provide the means to weather the inevitable financial setbacks we all endure, while offering hope and opportunity for a better future. They allow individuals and families to work toward financial stability and prosperity.

Owning a home or small business, saving for education or retirement, acquiring job skills and financial literacy–these are all ways to build assets. Asset building helps people support their families, weather financial emergencies, and invest in themselves and their communities.

Too often, people who lack these assets face significant barriers to building them, trapping them in poverty and economic insecurity. Racial and cultural disparities in assets further compound inequity.

MABC advocates for policies that remove these barriers, create new opportunities for Minnesotans to build assets, protect those assets from predatory financial deals or scams, and close the unacceptably large racial and cultural disparities that plague Minnesota in many asset building areas.

The issue in Minnesota

Too many Minnesotans have too few assets to enable them to get ahead.

As the Wall Street Journal has reported, nearly half of Americans are “financially fragile,” meaning they would be unable to come up with $2,000 in 30 days to cover the cost of an unanticipated major car repair, a large copayment on a medical expense, legal expenses, or a home repair. An estimated 1.5 million Minnesotans are unable to meet basic needs for three months if a bump in the financial road—like a job loss or a health crisis—causes a sudden and unexpected reduction in income.

On top of that, Prosperity Now ranked Minnesota 45th in the nation on its 2020 scorecard for racial disparities related to assets and wealth. On average, white households have higher income, homeownership rates, emergency savings, and business value than households of color.

 
 

You can explore prosperity now’s data for minnesota here, or download the reports on the right.

Minnesota Outcome & Policy Report

Minnesota Outcome & Policy Report

Minnesota Racial Disparity Report

Minnesota Racial Disparity Report

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What we do

The Minnesota Asset Building Coalition (MABC) was formed in 2014 to advocate for policies that provide greater opportunities for lower income Minnesotans to build wealth and climb the economic ladder. MABC’s membership is comprised of 140 geographically, culturally, and racially diverse nonprofit organizations, all focused on helping as many Minnesotans as possible participate in, contribute to, and succeed in our economy.

MABC organizes our members to:

  • Develop and advance an asset building policy agenda at the state legislature each year

  • Offer advocacy training for nonprofit practitioners and their clients

  • Engage practitioners and clients in advocacy on issues that affect them, including opportunities to share their expertise and stories, meet with their legislators, and testify in legislative committees

  • Participate in Practitioner Learning Circles (PLCs) on various asset building topics as a forum for networking, professional development, and shaping policy proposals

We believe that when economically marginalized individuals educate policymakers about the challenges they face and advocate for solutions, the public narrative around economic and racial equity changes, and we move towards an inclusive, sustainable, and just economy.