1

According to the 2007-2008 Assets & Opportunities Scorecard, published by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), Nebraska received a grade of:
    D for Business Development,
    C for Homeownership, &
    B for Financial Security.

2

Nebraska is ranked 43rd in the nation with a rate of 14.4 microenterprises in the state per 100 people in the labor force.

Source: CFED

3

Nebraska is ranked 44th in the nation with 1.8% of low-income housing tax credits set aside for preserving affordable housing.

Source: CFED

4

Nebraska is ranked 10th in the nation with the median amount of revolving debt per borrower at $1,388.00
(Revolving debt is debt from credit cards, private line cards, and lines of credit)

Source: CFED

5

Nebraska is ranked 1st in the nation with 81.8% of people 16 - 64 years old in the labor force (including the Armed Forces).

Source: 2006 American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau)

6

Nebraska is ranked 2nd in the nation with 63.1% of married-couple families with both husband and wife in the labor force.

Source: 2006 American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau)

7

Nebraska is ranked 4th in the nation with 71.1% of children under 6 years old with all parents in the labor force.

Source: 2006 American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau)

1

In 2006, a total of $203,821,000 in taxes was returned to Nebraska's low-wage earners through the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to spend in their communities, benefiting their local and state economies. An additional $15,563,409 was returned through the state EITC.

-Kids Count in Nebraska 2007

2

EITC is the single most effective policy that lifts low-income families out of poverty. It provides them with the means to pay bills and make affordable new purchases, thereby bolstering local businesses and the state economy.

3

Nebraska had 45,000 uninsured children in 2006-32,000 of those children live in families at 200% of poverty or below.
- Parents of uninsured children are seven times more likely to use the emergency room as a regular source of care.
- Children who are uninsured are at a disadvantage in school because of the number of days missed due to illness.

- Kids Count in Nebraska 2007

4

Most of the child population will utilize child care at some point. In 2006, Health and Human Services subsidized child care for 31,307 unduplicated children, an increase of 1,069 unduplicated children from 2005. Deficient child care can create diffculty in the workplace by causing employee stress or absenteeism when employees must take off work due to child care issues.

- Kids Count in Nebraska 2007

5

Helping working families succeed will have a dramatic impact on the state's economic health in terms of increasing the number of viable tax payers, decreasing the amount of tax based funding needed for public assistance programs such as health care for the uninsured and public welfare.

1

As Nebraska is ranked number one in the country for working parents, think of the vast improvements in family life if those parents were not forced to work multiple jobs, but instead could be highly involved in their children's lives. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, nearly 90% of low-income children in Nebraska have at least one working parent.

2

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the cost of child care in a two-parent, two-child home can range from $5,280 annually in rural Nebraska to $9,552 in Omaha or Lincoln. For a family of four living at the poverty level as defined by the federal government, child care would absorb nearly half of their annual income. Without affordable child care, parents are unable to work, causing them to fall back onto full government assistance. Parents rely on child care to earn the income they need to support their families.

3

All Nebraskans should share in the economic prosperity of our state, and we all have a personal responsibility to strengthen our communities. We just have to ask ourselves, what kind of a neighborhood, community, city, state, or country do we want to have?