Asset-Driven Development of Chattanooga (ADDC) is a pilot project of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development to promote and support church-based Individual Development Accounts in the Chattanooga, Tennessee region.
WHAT ARE INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT ACCOUNTS?
Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are basically matched savings accounts that help low-wage earners save money to acquire productive assets, like homes, education, or small business ventures. An asset base is indispensable for empowering low-income households to cope with unexpected financial shocks. IDAs can help the working poor succeed over the long term.
WHY THE CHURCH?
The mission of the Chalmers Center has always been to equip churches and para-church ministries to conduct best practice community development that addresses the root causes, not just the symptoms, of poverty. This ADDC initiative works with local churches and ministries that identify individuals within their community who would like to join an IDA savings group. Each ministry sets up its own policies and then mentors and disciples the participants during the savings period. ADDC provides support, training, and technical assistance to the churches.
Their ability to achieve lasting impact, their programmatic simplicity, and their relatively low cost make IDAs an attractive poverty alleviation tool that has become increasingly popular across the U.S. The Chalmers Center believes that churches and church-related ministries have holistic advantages over large-scale IDA programs operated with government funds – namely, the capacity to apply the gospel to the whole person, ministering to people’s spiritual, emotional, social, and physical needs.
LEARN MORE
To learn more about ADDC or IDAs in Chattanooga, or how to start an asset-driven development initiative in your own city, please contact Jerilyn Sanders, ADDC Director: o: 706-956-4358
m: 423-508-2899
jerilyn.sanders@chalmers.org
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