This report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies presents findings from the first year of an initiative to assess what works to enable low-income communities of color build assets. The executive summary highlights predisposing factors and promising practices in ten states, highly rated in the 2007-2008 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard for asset building among low-income people. The featured states include: Delaware, Hawai'i, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. A companion report Asset Building in Low-Income Communities of Color, Part 2: State Comparisons (Executive Summary) analyzes similar factors and practices in another set of states with large percentages of people of color (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Texas).

Also, see the Fact Sheet "Confronting and Closing the Wealth Gap".

Joint Center Senior Research Associate Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh and Research Intern Lauren Ross look at the subprime mortgage market collapse, its implications for African Americans and the corrective proposals of the two major candidates for President.