Strategies

Issue certificates of employability to individuals with criminal convictions who have met pre-specified standards of rehabilitation; also called certificates of relief, reentry, good conduct, rehabilitation, recovery, etc.

Provide financial assistance to working parents, or parents attending school, to pay for child care

Build assets through child development accounts (CDAs) with contributions from a sponsoring organization, such as government agencies or nonprofits, and family, friends; also called children’s savings accounts (CSAs)

Expand federal or state child tax credits by increasing credit amounts, making credits refundable, decreasing or eliminating the earnings threshold, or creating a fully refundable supplement

Provide funding for local community development activities such as affordable housing, anti-poverty programs, and infrastructure development

Support financial institutions providing services to underserved and disadvantaged communities

Purchase the land a home is on to lease to homeowners with low and middle incomes and require homeowners to sell the home back to the trust or to another resident with low income upon moving

Enhance streetscapes with greater sidewalk coverage and walkway connectivity, street crossing safety features, traffic calming measures, and other design elements

Offer debt advice from trained providers to tenants with unpaid, overdue rent to help repay debt and increase financial literacy

Expand refundable earned income tax credits for working individuals and families with low to moderate incomes