The Corporation for Enterprise Development released their Assets and Opportunities Scorecard recently, and the news is not great for Arkansas. On balance the state ranks 44 out of 51 (all U.S. states and the District of Columbia), but the report highlights some areas where Arkansas performs at or above the national average.  The Scorecard is a comprehensive look at Americans' financial security and their opportunities for the future. The Scorecard evaluates states on 101 outcomes and policy measures in the areas of financial assets and income, businesses and jobs, housing and homeownership, health care and education. For more information on the Scorecard, visit http://scorecard.cfed.org.

Arkansas received some very low rankings for these individual outcomes:

• Average annual pay for workers: (AR) $31,317; (US) $46,751; (Rank) 49.
• Low-income parents without health insurance: (AR) 43%; (US) 33.1%; (Rank) 45.
• Adults with two-year degrees: (AR) 25.8%; (US) 35.7%; (Rank) 50.
• Adults with four-year degrees: (AR) 19.5%; (US) 28.2%; (Rank) 50.

Even with a low overall rank, Arkansas has done well in certain outcomes. Arkansas had its highest rankings for the following measures:

• Average amount of credit card debit: (AR) $6,231; (US) $10,852 (Rank) 3.
• Homeowners with a housing cost burden (meaning their mortgage is more than 30 percent of their monthly income): (AR) 27.5%; (US) 38%; (Rank) 8.
• Renters with a housing cost burden: (AR) 49.7%; (US) 53%; (Rank) 16.
• Low-income children without health insurance: (AR) 7.8%; (US) 11.7%; (Rank) 18.
• Early childhood education enrollment: (AR) 42.1%; (US) 27.2%; (Rank) 6.

The Scorecard made recommendations for what Arkansas can do to improve.

• To address the poverty level in Arkansas, promotion of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and removing asset tests for public benefits would lift the most Arkansans out of poverty.
• Funding the Arkansas Housing Trust Fund or providing first-time homebuyer credits, families in Arkansas would have a better road to developing assets through homeownership.
• Arkansas should and can increase the number of adults with both two- and four-year college degrees by promoting incentives for college savings accounts.

The positive news for Arkansas is that efforts are underway to address many of the areas identified by The Scoreboard that we can do to improve.  Specifically AACF continues to work on helping low-income Arkansans file for the EITC in our broader effort to lower the poverty level in our state.  Please contact us if you want to help work to solve these problems.

For more Arkansas specific information from the CFED Assets and Opportunities Scorecard, visit http://scorecard.assetsandopportunity.org/2012/state/ar.