Counting on Financial Literacy from Jump$tart

The Jump$tart Coalition for Financial Literacy has published the 2008 annual report, Counting on Financial Literacy.   The Virginia Coalition was named state Jump$tart Coalition of the Year and yes, VACAP is a member of the Virginia coalition. 

The report lists 10 pages of partners working within the financial education field from A (ABA Education Foundation) to Y (Young Money).  If you are looking for financial education models, check it out. 

Download the Partner Summaries....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 9:48 AM - Categories: Financial Education

NCTC to Host Three Part Training Series on Volunteers

The National Community Tax Coalition is hosting three webinars on Volunteer recruitment and training:

"Volunteers are a big part of our tax sites operations. With out the assistance of our volunteers we would be unable to meet our organizations goals and missions. Yet, volunteer recruitment and retention seems to be a challenge year after year in the VITA community. This three part training series will look into to three different potential sectors for recruiting and retaining volunteers."

Read more and register....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 9:28 AM - Categories: Conferences/Webinars

Hot off the Presses from the IRS

Two new publications relating to the Making Work Pay Credit and ARRA are now available from the IRS: 

Catch a Break is a tri-fold brochure that explains the credit and encourages folks to learn more....

Making Work Pay is a one page slick the encourages you to do a "withholding check up"....

To download either or both publications, visit the IRS and search for publications 4780 and 4766.

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 3:08 PM - Categories: Flyers | Financial Education

Virginia CASH Campaign Posts Final Tax Season Highlights

With twenty eight coalitions making up the Virginia CASH Campaign, tax filing season for the 2008 tax year was most successful.  26 coalitions provided free tax preparation and electronic filing services to over 21, 300 individual and families.  In addition, over 1,100 paper returns were filed for an additional tax preparation savings to taxpayers of over $231,000.

• 21,345 -Federal returns
• $22,832,064- Total federal refunds
• $4,269,000- Tax prep savings ($200/return)

Read more and see all the highlights....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 3:10 PM - Categories: Press Releases | VITA

Brookings' EITC Interactive data on PolicyMap

Elizabeth Kneebone, Senior Research Analyst with The Brookings Institution announced that Brookings' EITC Interactive tax return data are now available on PolicyMap:

Visit Policy Map to map a variety of indicators for tax years 2000 through 2006 at the ZIP code, city, county, metro area, state, state legislative district, or congressional district level.  Look for Brookings data under the Money & Income tab in the Add Data Layer menu, and view different levels of geography by changing the “shade by” option in the legend.

You can search and download tax return data for tax years 1997 through 2996 by visiting EITC Interactive

To learn more about these resources, visit the Brookings EITC page

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 2:06 PM - Categories: Press Releases

A New Spin on Teaching Financial Skills

Writing in the Kansas City Star, Steve Rosen highlights how McDonald's workers are learning more than cooking skills...

Both cooking and financial skills are being taught these days to more than 500,000 McDonald’s restaurant employees.  The Golden Arches is at the forefront of what it describes as the nation’s largest employer-provided financial education program. Since December, McDonald’s has teamed with Visa to teach money management skills to employees at its 14,000-plus restaurants nationwide.

Read more from Steve Rosen....

Learn about Visa's Practical Money Skills for Life Program....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 1:06 PM - Categories: Press Releases | Financial Education

Beyond Lump Sum: Periodic Payment of the EITC

From the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Community Investments Spring 2009 issue:

Beyond Lump Sum: Periodic Payment of the Earned Income Tax Credit by Steven Holt from the Brookings Institution – The Earned Income Tax Credit is a vital resource for working families, but it may be time to transition from the lump-sum payment to a more frequent periodic payment.

Read the Article....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 9:09 AM - Categories: Press Releases