Abstract for presentation at Global Social Work 2004

This study is to describe and evaluate an innovative social work program in Taiwan, which is designed to help young people growing up in poor families. The aim of this program is to break intergenerational cycles of poverty through a system of individual saving accounts. On the basis of the asset-building concept proposed by Sherraden (1991), participants of this program are expected to save money for their future investment in education or job training, and a 1:1 matching deposit is provided for every NT dollar they have saved. In addition, all participants are required to attend courses related to financial management, preparation for future career, and development of positive interpersonal relationships. The project started in July 2003, and will end in 2006. Young people (aged 16-22) whose families have been receiving low-income subsidies from the city government of Taipei are eligible to be in the program, and a total of 105 young people participate in the program. In order to evaluate this program, all participants are asked to complete a form at the beginning of the program, which includes demographics, previous working experiences, saving patterns, expectations for the program, and how much they intend to save each month. Meanwhile, a questionnaire developed to measure their self-esteem, family relationships, educational performance and aspirations, as well as career goals is also administered. The same questions will be asked every 12-months until the end of the program. These repeated measured scores are used to evaluate whether this project can also help to increase the intangible assets of participants. Although the program is still in process, it has shown some significant contribution to the social work profession. Firstly, it is designed with a very strong theoretical component behind it, and combines policy, practice and research. Secondly, the concept of outcome evaluation has been incorporated at the beginning of the program, so we are able to carry out evaluations using appropriate research design and data. And last but not the least, it uses an aggressive and empowering approach to tackle poverty, which coincides perfectly with values and philosophies of the social work profession.