Financial Stability Grants for American Street Empowerment Zone

Posted by on December 21, 2009

Grants support financial stability work in American Street area

The Neighborhood Funding Stream of the American Street Empowerment Zone, administered by United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Commerce Department, will award grants to projects in which modest funds can make a noticeable difference in the community and achieve tangible and quantifiable positive outcomes for American St. Empowerment Zone families.

The Community Trust Board has established that one goal of activities funded by the Neighborhood Funding Stream funds will be to assist low-income working families in the American Street Empowerment Zone to improve family financial stability by enhancing their financial education, opening bank accounts, saving and obtaining assets, and accessing income supports such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Objectives of funded activities will include:   —
— providing free or low-cost tax preparation services to low-income families in the American Street Empowerment Zone.
— increasing the number of eligible low-income families who claim the EITC in the American Street Empowerment Zone through targeted outreach that raises awareness about the existence of tax credits.
— saving American Street Empowerment Zone families money through free or low-cost tax preparation services and by discouraging the use of high cost refund anticipation loans.
— connecting low-wage workers from the American Street Empowerment Zone to financial education and opportunities to build assets so that tax credits can be used to bolster family financial stability effectively.

The successful applicant will be an organization that has an established EITC program and offers a full range of financial education and income supports and has a track record of successful partnerships with community-based organizations in the American Street Empowerment Zone, and will employ a staff that has the ingenuity, commitment, local knowledge and relationships, and motivation to carry out the proposal’s objectives.

To download the request for proposals, click here.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Edrfair/ASEZ.doc