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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Contact: ACF Press Office
(202) 401-9215
ACF Awards $10.2 Million through Assets for Independence Program
31 grants establish individual development accounts, support self-sufficiency
WASHINGTON, D.C. --- The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today awarded $10,228,810 to 31 grantees through the Assets for Independence (AFI) program. The awards provide financial education and economic support services, including access to individual development accounts, for low-income individuals and families across the nation.
“The Bush Administration fully supports individual development accounts as a tool for enabling low-income families to achieve self-sufficiency,” said Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., HHS assistant secretary for children and families. “These grants support projects that help families open individual development accounts for saving earned income for a college education, a first home or to start or support a small business.”
AFI is a federal grant program administered by the Office of Community Services at ACF. Grantees assist participants with saving earned income in special bank or credit union accounts called Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). Every dollar saved by a participant is matched with grant funds. Participants use IDA resources to acquire long-term assets, applying the savings and match funds toward buying a first home, higher education or to support a small business.
AFI provides five-year grants of up to $1 million to nonprofit organizations and state, local, and tribal governments. Currently, upwards of 400 AFI projects are underway across the country, and more than 35,000 families have saved earned income in IDAs supported by the AFI program.
For more information on AFI, go to: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/assetbuilding/.
For a complete list of today’s AFI awards, go to: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/awards2006.htm.
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news