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 RAISE Texas

RAISE Texas was incorporated in 2007.  It was formally known as the Texas Asset Building Coalition. 

RAISE Texas agrees with Michael Sherraden, a national leader in asset building, that “income is not enough for day-to-day and long-term economic stability.”  RAISE Texas believes that assets provide an investment vehicle, protection, and hope for a better future.  Sherraden defines asset building as accumulated resources that are invested for social and economic development.  RAISE Texas agrees that these investments can be in human, social, or tangible assets and most often are found in education, homeownership, and small business development.  The crucial standard of success in the field of asset-building is asset accumulation and development across generations.  RAISE Texas believes that as a coalition, organizations and stakeholders from around Texas can help achieve the major outcomes that drive our work—thus leading to intergenerational well-being for low-to-moderate income families in Texas.

RAISE Texas has developed a mission statement to guide our work.  It reads:

RAISE Texas fosters effective and sustainable initiatives that help individuals and families escape poverty by increasing personal finance skills and building assets. Through these actions, individuals and families can increase their effectiveness and confidence and foster inter-generational economic stability. Economic stability means self sufficiency without dependence on public assistance or unsecured debt for ongoing living expenses. Stable families in turn enhance the strength of their communities through their financial resilience and responsible civic participation.

Families demonstrate financial resiliency by improving conditions, such as their educational attainment and new job-specific skills, occupational status, spending habits, income, credit, net worth, and risk management, which enable them to weather financial crises. Families demonstrate responsible civic participation by knowing their neighbors, supporting community institutions, voting, practicing their faith, maintaining attractive residences, and encouraging these habits in their children.

Responsible civic participation contributes to strong communities which in turn enhances family financial resilience and beneficial networks of reciprocity.

From this mission statement we have developed five major outcomes to drive our work:

2. Build individual and family assets and financial resiliency

4. Increase intergenerational family economic stability

At our Texas Asset Building Summit in November 2005, in Austin participants began to develop a list of recommendations to guide our work in the asset building field.  Regional meetings occurred in early 2006 in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, McAllen, El Paso, Midland, and Beaumont to discuss asset building products and programs. Our campaign is known as RAISE Texas (Resources, Assets, Investments, Savings, and Education).  A 2nd RAISE Texas asset-building summit was held on November 15-16, 2006 hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. An action agenda was developed to guide our work for 2007.

We are committed to raising the financial success of Texans through increased asset building activities from asset preparation to asset creation to asset facilitation to asset protection to asset building for individuals, families, and communities.

For more information:  Woody Widrow, Project Director, RAISE Texas, 506 West 14^th Street, Suite A, Austin, TX 78701; 512-477-4431 x129 (phone); woody@covenantcapital.org