Poster #3 - Building Agency and Economic Capacity: Evidence from Cherokee Nation

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

This study examines how integrated financial and psychosocial interventions can strengthen agency and economic capacity among low-income populations. While cash transfer programs have gained increasing attention as tools for poverty alleviation, less is known about how pairing income supports with capacity-building interventions influences participants’ ability to translate resources into sustained economic mobility. We evaluate the Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World curriculum implemented by Cherokee Nation in combination with First Steps to Hope, a guaranteed income initiative serving primarily expectant mothers. 

The intervention combines a structured, facilitator-led curriculum focused on financial knowledge, goal setting, and resource identification with direct cash assistance intended to reduce immediate financial strain. Using survey data from program participants (N > 150, with ongoing data collection) and a pre–post evaluation design, we assess changes in perceived agency, defined as individuals’ sense of present control and expectations for future improvement, as well as key psychosocial and financial outcomes. Preliminary findings from multivariable analyses indicate that greater engagement with curriculum strategies, stronger social support, higher financial knowledge, and increased motivation are associated with higher perceived agency, while poorer health-related quality of life is negatively associated. 

Final analyses will examine within-participant changes over time and the extent to which specific program components contribute to improvements in agency and related outcomes. Early patterns suggest that financial literacy alone may be insufficient, as participants’ ability to translate knowledge into action depends on social supports, motivation, and health-related constraints. These findings point to the importance of addressing both structural and psychosocial barriers in the design of poverty alleviation programs. 

This study contributes to policy debates by providing evidence on a combined cash transfer and capacity-building intervention within a sovereign Tribal context, an area with limited prior research. While grounded in Cherokee Nation, the findings have broader implications for U.S. anti-poverty policy, particularly in the design of integrated approaches that pair income supports with interventions that strengthen agency, social capital, and long-term economic capacity. Programmatic extensions, including alumni networks, light-touch health navigation, and targeted financial coaching, may improve the scalability and effectiveness of similar models across diverse policy settings.

Authors

• Rinjisha Roy, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
  Presenting Author

• Meredith McKee Adkins, University of Arkansas
  Non-Presenting Co-Author