Assets for Independence Act (AFIA), (passed as title IV of ''Coats Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1998'' ), is an American law which provides $125 million over five years to fund

Individual Development Accounts An individual development account (IDA) is an asset building tool designed to enable low-income families to save towards a targeted amount usually used for building assets in the form of home ownership, post-secondary education and small business ...

(IDA). Individual Development Accounts are matched savings accounts that help low-income people save for a particular goal, such as buying a home, paying for post-secondary education, or starting or expanding a small business. In 2017 no grants were awarded in this act.

History

After seeing the success of IDAs, Congress passed the Assets for Independence Act (AFIA), providing $125 million over five years to fund IDAs. The Assets for Independence Act was passed as part of the Community Opportunities, Accountability, and Training and Educational Services Act of 1998. The

AFI AFI may refer to: * Actual flip-angle imaging, a type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) * ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol * AFI (band), an American rock band ** ''AFI'' (2017 album), the tenth ...

Program is administered by the

Office of Community Services The Office of Community Services (OCS) is a division of the US Executive Branch under the Administration for Children and Families within the Department of Health and Human Services. It is the direct successor of the Office of Economic Opportuni ...

, within the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Im ...

Administration for Children and Families The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It is headed by the assistant secretary of health and human services for children and families. It has a $49 bill ...

. There are currently hundreds of IDA programs across the United States. CFED is well known in the field as the expert on

, as well as other asset building programs and policies.Leaders Gather to Shape Asset-Building Field Ground-breaking Conference Brings Together Bankers Govt. Social Workers to Discuss Wealth Economic Opportunity
/ref>

References

{{reflist Personal finance 105th United States Congress