AmeriCorps*VISTA’s Financial Asset Development Conference is the first of a summer series of gatherings developed to identify cutting edge strategies for addressing poverty in the United States. A conference on service-learning will be held August 14-16, at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and a conference on faith-based strategies will follow, August 20-22, at the University of Indianapolis.

During the three-day conference at Brown, nearly 100 participants from nonprofit and philanthropic organizations across the country will identify promising practices and inventory current research on asset development topics such as individual development accounts, micro-enterprise, home ownership, and entrepreneur education.

Participants also will explore how to help community organizations generate assets to sustain themselves through practices such as generating diverse revenue streams, technology planning, and endowment development.

Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) will address conference participants during the opening session at 8 a.m., Tuesday, August 7, in the Chancellor’s Dining Room at Brown University.

According to Matt Dunne, the Director of AmeriCorps*VISTA: “This conference is the first step in growing a national network of asset development programs. Our hope is that other institutions of higher education as well as corporations will follow Brown University’s lead in supporting our efforts to help solve some of our country’s toughest social problems.”

For 35 years, AmeriCorps*VISTA has been helping bring communities and individuals out of poverty. Today, nearly 6,000 AmeriCorps*VISTA members serve in hundreds of nonprofit organizations and public agencies throughout the country.

In exchange for their year of full-time service, AmeriCorps*VISTA members receive a modest living allowance along with health insurance, training, and travel and relocation expenses. When members complete their service, they receive either an education award of $4,725 that they can use to help pay for further schooling or vocational training or to pay off qualified student loans, or a $1,200 stipend.

To join AmeriCorps*VISTA, visit www.americorps.org.