A discussion for a comprehensive asset building agenda starts now

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Last week, the Insight Center for Community Economic Development wrapped up its Color of Wealth 2009 Policy Summit (March 23-24, 2009) here in Washington, DC. I participated as an observer and would like to commend the event organizers and attendees for their commitment to bringing asset building experts to our lawmakers, quite literally.

Throughout the convening, there was broad agreement that comprehensive asset building policy is necessary for the future prosperity of our country. However, among the array of promising policy options offered by the experts, no consensus was reached as to which policies would most effectively address the nation’s wealth disparities and which policies were most ripe for legislative action.

Members of the Experts of Color Clearinghouse engaged the attending lawmakers and White House representatives in an open discussion of their policy ideas. Representatives Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Melvin Watt (D-NC), and Keith Ellison (D-MN) were receptive to the dialogue, and reaffirmed the importance of providing opportunity for all to achieve the American Dream. In their remarks, these policymakers conveyed a shared vision for greater prosperity and decreased inequality, but failed to articulate a discrete action plan. Instead, they relied on the asset-building experts to craft and state a policy agenda.

For example, when asked, “What are your priorities for democratizing provisions in the tax code to create wealth for low income people?” a Congressman responded simply, “financial literacy,” and spoke about the uneven distribution of subsidies for the wealthy. While lawmakers may not be prepared to publicly state their vision for important asset-building policies, they need to explicitly call on the field for ideas.

Now is the time for policymakers and the Experts of Color to join together in a conversation on a discrete policy agenda. Together, policymakers armed with a vision of the needs of their constituents and experts with an array of policy options for achieving that vision can build a relationship to begin developing asset building solutions for the long-term prosperity of the nation.