IDAs and CAAs: A Natural Partnership
A Technical Assistance Document for Community Action Agencies Operating Individual Development Account Programs
7. |
The Future |
||
| Future Capacity | |||
| Unmet Needs | |||
| Three-Year Goals | |||
Future Capacity
It is estimated that there are currently over 500 IDA Programs (CAA and non-CAA) in the United States serving at least 20,000 Account Holders. This is only a small percentage of the number of low-income individuals and families that could benefit from IDAs. We asked several questions in our survey to get an idea of the current and future capacity of CAAs to add more Participants to their programs. Many respondents answered that funding—match, program and administrative—is the one thing that is holding them back from expanding at this point. 5 Programs in our survey anticipate that they will be closing within the next year (2 of these are funding related).
We asked the following survey question: "How many additional
Account Holders could your organization accept at this time in order
to fulfill your maximum capacity." The answers are in the Table
below.
| Number of Account Holders | # of CAAs |
|---|---|
|
Currently at maximum capacity
|
35
|
|
10 to 19
|
23
|
|
20 to 49
|
23
|
|
50 to 99
|
12
|
|
100+
|
4
|
72 agencies currently have people on their waiting list to enter
their IDA Program.
Unmet Needs
We wanted to know what is the current unmet need for IDAs. We asked:
"How many people in your local target market could benefit from
and qualify for an IDA that you don't currently have the capacity
to serve?" 121 agencies responded to this question.
| Unmet Need | # of CAAs |
|---|---|
|
1 to 99
|
32
|
|
100 to 499
|
18
|
|
501 to 999
|
4
|
|
1,000 to 2,499
|
7
|
|
2,500 to 4,999
|
3
|
|
5,000+
|
13
|
|
Don't know
|
44
|
Three-Year Goals
We asked: "What are your goals for your IDA Program for the next three years?" The following interrelated goals were the ones most often given:
- increase capacity/expand the program
- secure/stabilize funding
- increase asset purchases
Other answers included:
- " Increase retention
- Permit more allowable assets
- Have more involvement with financial institutions
- Continue to meet goals/continued successful program operation
- Raise awareness of IDA Programs in the community
- Continued growth toward self-sufficiency
- Follow-up to track retention of assets
- Better incorporation into existing CAA programs
- Increase effectiveness of program by incorporating Best Practices
- Develop more partners and linkages
- Staff development
- Be recognized as a Model Program!
