CLOSING THE ECONOMIC
OPPORTUNITY GAP
EMPOWERING FAMILIES TO SAVE AND PLAN FOR THE FUTURE
ASSETS EMPOWER FAMILIES, enabling them to move up the economic ladder, pay for college, invest in a business, survive a financial emergency and manage retirement. To help build assets and gain economic security, we provide the resources necessary to help low-income people get and keep good jobs that pay living wages. In addition, our work promotes public policies that encourage saving and aims to connect families with affordable financial services, including home mortgages, small loans and insurance.
HOMEOWNERSHIP
$48.2 Million in grants, plus
$27 Million in loans, since 2003

Goal: Help low-income Americans produce, maintain and preserve assets to improve economic security and open the door to opportunity. Grant making focuses on improving access to fairly priced mortgages, preventing foreclosures, curtailing predatory lending practices and promoting alternative financial strategies such as shared home equity investments.

1 IN 33 U.S. HOMES WILL BE IN FORECLOSURE BY 2010 BECAUSE OF SUBPRIME LOANS MADE IN 2005 AND 2006

MICROFINANCE
$39.4 Million in grants,
plus $12.5 million in loans,
since 2003

Goal: Develop global financial services to bring the "unbanked" poor into the economic mainstream and strengthen microfinance institutions in developing countries. Ford Foundation grants helped fund the first microfinance project in 1976 in Bangladesh. Ongoing foundation grants have helped expand microfinance programs worldwide, including in Mexico, India and South Africa.

UNEMPLOYMENT FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS IS NEARLY TWICE THAT OF THE NATIONAL AVERAGE FOR WHITE AMERICANS
NATIONAL FUND FOR
WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS
$50 Million
2007 through 2012

Goal: Strengthen and expand U.S. workforce initiatives through a partnership of foundations, businesses and government. The fund supports local initiatives to train low income workers and help them find good jobs.

WWW.NFWSOLUTIONS.ORG

IN THE WORLD
1 BILLION

adults lack basic literacy skills. 64% are women and are concentrated in the world's most populated countries, including Brazil, China, Indonesia, India and Nigeria.

500
MILLION

people worldwide are running microbusinesses.

7 PEOPLE

The world's 7 richest people have more wealth than the economies of its 41 most heavily indebted poor countries.

SAVINGS PROGRAMS
$46.2 Million
Since 2003

Goal: Support innovative approaches to help low income people save and invest for a more secure future. Two key areas include Individual Development Accounts, which provide matching contributions and financial counseling to disadvantaged workers, and Children's Savings Accounts, which provide accounts to children to help them build assets and develop financial literacy at an early age.