On June 17, 2009, Senator Blanche Lincoln announced her intent to introduce Child Account legislation this fall and effectively “Add the Kids” through a national policy of universal child savings accounts. Senator Lincoln was joined in introducing this initiative by David White, President and CEO of The Children’s Mutual; William Bynum, President and CEO of the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta and the Hope Community Credit Union; Angela Duran, President of the Southern Good Faith Fund; and Lisa Mensah, Executive Director of IFS.
Senator Lincoln acknowledged the need to instill, from birth, good savings habits to provide Americans with tools to save earlier, more steadily, and more effectively. To see Senator Lincoln’s full child account proposal summary click here. Participants argued that this program could help ensure no child, and no family, would be disconnected from the financial mainstream going forward. Recognizing that Child Account investments will pay for themselves many, many times over, the speakers also cited how test demonstrations of Child Accounts are already showing promise in the United States.
The IFS also released the “Child Accounts: The Appropriate Role for the Private Sector” report that endorses a private sector delivery system in which the government defines and regulates Child Accounts but the private finance sector performs all other account functions. This pragmatic retail model could bring large numbers of previously-unbanked Americans into the financial mainstream.
To read more about the event and Senator Lincoln’s goal of ‘Adding the Kids’ click here. To watch the briefing in its entirety click here.
