Pragmatic approaches to resolve the paradox when administering financial assistance programs—how to reduce risk and ensure desired outcomes are achieved, while also expanding access for underserved communities and achieving equity-oriented results.
Improving Social Equity in Federal Financial Assistance
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Resolving the paradox when administering financial assistance programs—how to reduce risk and ensure desired outcomes are achieved, while also expanding access for underserved communities and achieving equity-oriented results—requires a concentrated effort to incorporate policies, program methods redesign, outreach/engagement, risk reduction, and capability-building approaches into financial assistance program mandates and design, both pre- and post-award. The challenge of expanding financial assistance access and channeling resources to underserved communities is daunting; however, this paper provides pragmatic approaches to address this challenge tailored for financial assistance grant and loan programs and for benefit programs.