Overall, the FY1999 grantees made effective progress toward their stated goals and objectives in the first year. They recruited close to one-third of the account holders projected over the term of their five year projects, in many cases ahead of schedule; they have drawn down their grant funds at a pace consistent with their original planned schedules as set forth in their grant proposals; and their account holders have achieved average savings rates that are consistent with meeting the savings goals that were proposed. The pace at which the grantees were able to implement their projects will facilitate an effective evaluation of the impact of the programs on the IDA account holders.

Section 412 of the AFI Act requests data on the demographic characteristics of the individual IDA account holders; the amounts in the Reserve Funds; the amounts deposited in the IDA savings accounts; the amounts withdrawn from the IDA accounts and the purposes for which they were withdrawn; the balances remaining in the accounts; the balances remaining in the individual development accounts; the savings account characteristics required to stimulate participation in the demonstration projects; how the savings account characteristics varied across populations and communities; and the impact of different service configurations on participation and savings rates. In order to capture the data necessary to respond to this legislative mandate, OCS developed and provided the grantees with a standardized data collection tool to be used to complete their Annual Progress Report.

OCS also worked with the Office of Policy, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families to initiate a rigorous evaluation of the AFI Demonstration program. The purpose of this evaluation is to answer the questions posed in Section 414 of the Act. During the first year of the demonstration, an evaluation design was developed and approved. Data collections were developed and were submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. Field interviews using the approved instrument are expected to begin in the late Fall of 2001.

The questions to be evaluated include the effects of incentives and organizational or institutional support on savings behavior; the savings rates of the IDA account holders based on their demographic characteristics; the economic, civic, psychological, and social effects of asset accumulation and how it varies among different populations and communities; the effects of IDAs on savings rates, home ownership rates, post-secondary education rates, business ownership rates; and self-employment rates among different populations and communities; the potential financial returns to the Federal Government and other public and private investors in IDAs; and whether the lessons learned from the demonstration support the establishment of a permanent IDA program. In order to answer these questions, OCS will use the data derived from the formal evaluation, as well as the data provided by the grantees in their Annual Progress Reports.

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