Building community in your area? Check out the Community Organizers Handbook. Includes everything you need to start and grow a NetSquared Local group or any other community-powered program.
NetSquared is an initiative ofTechSoup
NetSquared enables social benefit organizations to leverage the tools of the social web.
NPower Seattle Promotes Online Tax Tools and the Earned Income Tax Credit
Supporting organization:
NPower Seattle
URL:
http://www.npowerseattle.org/education/eitcdetails.htm
Location:
Seattle, WA
Affiliate organizations:
Chinese Information and Services Center, New Futures, Southeast Effective Development, Yesler Learning Center, and Multi-Service
Project Description:
Each year, low-income families miss out on the chance to receive a tax credit that could help them move out of poverty, as millions of dollars go unclaimed in the federal government's Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program. NPower Seattle, a nonprofit technology assistance provider, has launched a program to help community-based organizations take advantage of the free technology tools that exist to apply for the tax credit, and in turn teach their clients how to use these tools.
NPower Seattle’s EITC Project is a partnership with nonprofit organizations that serve low-income communities. The goal of this two-year project is to inspire more widespread use of technology tools that can help to ensure that qualified families and individuals receive their tax credit. The short-term goal is to increase the EITC credits received by people in King County by $2 million in 2006 and 2007.
Participating organizations can
• attend free workshops offered through the summer and fall of 2006,
• download EITC resources from NPower Seattle’s web site, and
• request training for staff on the use of online tax filing tools.
See www.npowerseattle.org/education/eitclinks.htm for a full list of classes and EITC outreach materials.
Points of interest:
Longer term, the EITC Project is a demonstration project on the effective use of online tools. The long-term goal of the project is to empower nonprofit staff to use these and other technology tools to provide more services to low-income communities.
Subscribe
NetSquared Newsletters:
>>Subscribe to NetSquared News and other email updates.
NetSquared Community Blog:
>> Subscribe to the Community Blog RSS feed.
>> Subscribe to the Community Blog comments RSS feed.
Tax Credits
We cannot control these tax credits though it is adding to our financial burdens. Many people suffered from credit crisis due to the current changes in the economic situation wherein the price of basic commodities increased including fuel and oil. This is why you really should check out opportunity.gov. Opportunity.gov is a Federal website that is geared toward people dealing with unemployment. It has helps for worker retraining and Pell grants for people who want to go back to school, and unlike quick payday loans, you don't have to pay them back. The available funding for Pell grants has dramatically increased, and also the tax credits for college students with the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which are both part of President Obama's plans for supercharging higher education in our nation. Taking advantage of opportunity.gov might mean getting a job good enough that you'll never worry about debt relief.