By Lara Burt | April 2026 Economic security is a cornerstone of a child’s healthy development, especially during the critical prenatal-to-three period when the foundations for lifelong learning, health, and well-being are formed. Research shows that the earliest years of life are a time of rapid brain development. A family’s ability to meet basic needs during these early years has … Read More
Beyond the Bank Account: How Baby Bonds Help Create a Healthier Future
By Dr. Sarah DeSilvey and Dr. Patricia Welch Saleeby | April 2026 When we talk about health, we usually focus on what happens inside a doctor’s office. But as any public health expert will tell you, our health and well-being are shaped long before we enter that office. “Social Determinants of Health” (SDOH) account for the vast majority of our … Read More
Accelerated Baby Bonds: What Happens When Policy Meets Financial Reality
By Yaw Owusu-Boahen | March 2026 In August 2025, we launched Cash Catalyst, the first “Accelerated Baby Bonds” program in the country. The program combines capital, financial education, and wraparound services to measurably increase wealth for 52 young adult residents of Greater New Haven. We structured Cash Catalyst to mirror Connecticut’s first-in-the-nation Baby Bonds law, using the Connecticut Treasurer’s requirements … Read More
Baby Bonds in New Ideas to Impact Report
By Lindsay Torrico, Executive Director, ABA Foundation | March 2026 At the American Bankers Association (ABA) Foundation, we believe that building a more resilient and inclusive financial future requires bold ideas, strong partnerships, and a commitment to advancing economic opportunity for all. That belief is at the heart of our new report, Ideas to Impact: A Framework for Influencing Banking’s … Read More
What Baby Bonds Mean to Us, to Arkansas, and to the South
By Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families | February 2026 What does it take to build real opportunity? And what happens when that opportunity is out of reach from the start? In this Baby Blog, leadership at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) lend their voices and their unique perspectives to reflect on why Baby Bonds matter, and how … Read More
Baby Bonds and the Great Wealth Transfer: Building Opportunity Where Private Inheritance Falls Short
By Dr. Mingli Zhong | February 2026 Discussions about early wealth-building programs often center on implementation: how should accounts be structured? What savings matches work best? Which investment options make sense?Yet less attention has been paid to how these initiatives connect to the broader landscape of intergenerational wealth transfer, particularly the looming Great Wealth Transfer, a projected $124 trillion shift … Read More
Why Baby Bonds? When Family History Becomes Research Mission
By Dr. Tiffany N. Younger | January 2026 When people ask me why I’m drawn to Baby Bonds research, I often think about my childhood. I think about how in a nontraditional way, I have received a form of a baby bond. At the age of three, I lost my thirty-two year old biological mother to kidney disease. After her … Read More
A Superbundle for Maternal Health and Wealth
By Megan Smith, Hilary Hahn, Becky Wasserman, and Treasurer Mike Pieciak | January 2026 Nearly a thousand women die each year in the United States from preventable pregnancy-related causes, and Black and Indigenous mothers die at nearly three times the rate of white mothers. These deaths are not solely explained by biomedical reasons and the quality of healthcare received. Instead, … Read More
Baby Bonds Can Build a Better Maryland
By Brooke Lierman | December 2025 When I ran for Comptroller in 2022, I explained that my core fundamental value is that I believe we all do better when we all do better. To that end, I set a new vision for the office of the Comptroller: to work in partnership to create a state that is more equitable, resilient, … Read More
Creating Lasting Impact Through Impermanence: Early Wealth Building in Colorado
By Jill Hawley, Julie Stone, & Emily Williams, Gary Community Ventures | December 2025 At Gary Community Ventures, we believe wealth, not just income, is the foundation for lasting economic mobility. From the beginning, our founders, Sam and Nancy Gary, centered their work on young children and their parents, building an economic mobility strategy focused on three goals: increasing income, … Read More