EQUITY e-newsletter: Summer 2004

Connecting the Dots: Corporate Finance, Asset Building, and Disability Communities Working Together

Benefits to Inclusion: A New Market in People with Disabilities

Megan O'Neil, Access to Assets Project Coordinator, summarizes a roundtable discussion that focused on the stereotypes, barriers, as well as the financial incentives of including people with disabilities in asset building programs. The roundtable was coordinated by the World Institute on Disability and included Jeanne Argoff, Disability Funders Network; Steve Mendelsohn, Law, Health Policy & Disability Center, University of Iowa College of Law; and Deborah Kaplan, Kathy Martinez, Kevin Dalcamo, and Megan O'Neil, World Institute on Disability.

Corporate Financial Institutions, Asset Building, and Disability: Making the Connections

National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (NFCDCU), ShoreBank, and Washington Mutual have a common characteristic: they all sponsor asset building programs and have incorporated accessibility features to best serve their customers with disabilities.

Diversity, Disability, and Deb Dagit: Working for an Inclusive Corporate America

Deb Dagit, Executive Director of Diversity & Work Environment for Merck & Co., Inc.- one of the world's largest pharmaceutical corporations, insists that disability be included in the diversity discussion. As one of the country's most well-respected lecturers on diversity in the workplace, Dagit, a woman with a disability, embodies diversity.

Savings for Working Families Act (SWFA) of 2003

In order for Individual Development Accounts to be truly effective, expansion of program availability is necessary. SWFA would allocate $450 million in IDA Tax Credits to match the savings of working families and would allow for up to 300,000 IDAs to be created.

EQUITY Responds: Answers to common questions received from either the Asset Building Community or the Disability Community

Our credit union wants to do more extensive disability outreach and learn how to serve the disability population better. Any advice?