Leigh Tivol, senior program manager with the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) in Washington, D.C., presented the national perspective on the asset-building movement at the RAISE Texas Action Summit in April.>

What began several years ago as a network of matched savings programs to encourage low-income Texans to save has blossomed into a statewide, comprehensive asset-building movement now known as RAISE Texas.

Postrecession, the asset-building movement continues to gain momentum across the country. Individuals and families pursue wealth-building strategies based on such time-honored principles as budget to save, save to invest, credit building, controlling debt and protecting wealth once it has been...

Building and maintaining financial security is increasingly difficult for a growing portion of American households. Wealth is less prevalent in middle-class households and increasing among the already well-to-do. At the same time, poverty is growing and concentrating disproportionately among the...